Peace bringing angels

Hello folks, I'm back!



We enjoyed a lovely quiet holiday in Germany.
We did exactly what we wanted to do and so we relaxed like there was no tomorrow. And I'm so happy to say that it all did us worlds of good. Michel and I were both feeling exhausted and unwell when we left and the children both had an awful cough. But after some much needed sleep, our health improved and our heads cleared. I really feel energized enough now to face the busy times that lay ahead of us.

Anyway, I'll write some more about our holiday soon. I just want to show you the crafting that I've been able to do. At the last minute I had packed some felt and embroidery thread not knowing what I was going to do with it. However right on the first day I knew I wanted to make Christmas decorations, so that's what I did.



I made 12 Poppe-angels that will probably go in the Christmas tree when it's time for that (seems such a long time from now!).
They were so much fun to make and I really enjoyed the freestyle- embroidery I did. I really don't know how to embroider at all :)

I want to keep these little dolls as remainders of my peaceful time on holiday. Hopefully I'll be able to recapture that relaxed feeling even when things start to become more stressful around here.
And just to proof they really are angels (or half-angel/half-fairy as Amber states)... they have wings!

Oh to be a Pampers' baby and lie around all day!

Sorry for the unexpected mini-blog breaks I'm taking lately. I'm not happy about it, but 'normal' life keeps getting in the way of my blogging and crafting.
I'm on my way to work again right now, but in three days time we're going on holiday!!
We all so need this break... we're going to relax as hard as this Pampers' baby!!
I'll try to post before we leave. Hope you're all well!

*edit* I didn't manage a new post. We're off to Germany tomorrow; hope to be back next week, rested and full of new energy!!

Yet another milestone!

Some weeks we have so many milestones to celebrate that it overwhelms me a bit. The children seem to be particularly clever/witty/grown-up/sweet etc. lately!

This Thursday Amber went to her first swimminglesson, something that she'd been looking forward to very much. This is her and her friend before the lesson with the fish they just picked out (pink naturally). This 'rainbow-fish' will be gradually filled with coloured scales as they'll be preparing themselves for their diplomas.



The lesson started off swimmingly (sorry).



The girls dived right in with the other children, but after about 30 minutes Amber suddenly started to cry saying that she didn't like it and didn't want to do it anymore. Oh dear! I'm still not quite sure what was wrong, but I suspect it's the teacher who has quite a loud voice and an American accent. Even when she's giving out compliments, she sounds as if she's angry. Nevertheless, I managed to calm her down and the rest of the lesson went fine.

Here is Amber showing off the fish with their first well-earned scales while Simon is playing hide-and-seek in the lockers:



It was disgustingly hot inside the pool while we were watching the lesson. Poor Simon had to be still and quiet while we were there. At one point he got so bored that I caught him chewing Amber's fish... he actually took little bites of foam!! We distracted him with a chocolate-drink before he was able to eat the whole fish :))

Time-out

I can't believe a week has passed without blogging. Life seems to be racing by at the moment and I'm running to keep up. More on that some other time, or not... perhaps if I just ignore it it will go away.
(Nothing serious going on by the way, just T.O.O. much!)



Nevertheless, today was a good, relaxing day. I decided to leave the household-mess for another day and spend some much needed quality-time with the children.
Nothing too exciting, but very valuable: shopping with Simon, some time spent in the garden, and in the afternoon we went mushroom-searching in the forest. I'll show photos of that soon.



Simon had a great time picking all the remaing tomatoes of the plants in our garden (he was allowed :)) and Amber and I arranged them nicely and took photos. The result is lovely, don't you think?



Take care everyone!

PS My first package arrived, yay!

The rounds

Do you have a strict routine surfing the internet too?!

Bloglines is my starting page and after scanning that quickly I then open my e-mail.
I have three different accounts for different purposes. I *heart* getting mail; unfortunately I've also been receiving lots and lots of spam recently.

Then I go to Flickr. There is always so much to do there!! First I read the new comments. Then I check my views, the new photos of my contacts and my groups.
By the way I just started two new Flickr-groups: Placemats and Tissueholders. Come and have a look and join if you like :)

Whilst checking e-mail and Flickr I'm also reading the new posts of my favourite blogs and leave comments as much as I can.

These are the three most important things I do on the internet. But ofcourse there are many other places that I like to visit, such as here (for the latest news and weather), and here (for the best laughs), and here, and here.

A website that I also really love is Craftygirls. If you're interested in Dutch crafty life then this is the place to be. Here you find crafty projects, links to crafty people/shops and ofcourse there's the forum where I like to hang out :)
There is also a monthly goodiebag for sale with promotional mini-items. The next will be up for sale tomorrow 20.30h and I've donated some goodies too this month!

All this checking on blogs and websites keeps me content and occupied for a long time. Sometimes so long that Michel gets irritated and asks me: What on earth are you doing all the time?! To which I always answer: Oh, just doing the rounds!
So I'm just going to do a quick last round and then I go downstairs to my lovely hubbie who waits for me with tea and chocolate!

Just a photo of some fun we had today. Is Amber wearing her pyjamas in the middle of the day?! Well, yes she is! I tried to have her take a nap, because she's been quite tired these last days, but ofcourse she wouldn't sleep!