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!

Fingerfood

Last night I finished the last of these six tissue holders.
I love them... they're so quick, easy and fun to make!
And these turned out even better than the ones I made before.



All those happy fabrics and ribbons are really my thing. I really enjoy photographing them too, so I made a new set for them :))



We had a great time at the weekend. We went away with friends to a cottage.
The weather was still beautiful and we did lots of fun things like this:




















and this:




















Oh, and the lovely Miss Woolly did a little feature on me on her blog... check it out!!

*edit* I just saw this tutorial on Whipup; if you'd like to make your own tissue holders but don't know where to start!

Tidies

The last couple of days I've been busy working on the presents I promised in my 100th post.
I've finished 4 tidies (wall pockets).
They are made of green Italian placemats and I wished I had another one, because I need one more tidie for one of the girls. I'm just going to have to come up with something else!











I really enjoyed making these... picking out fabrics for patchwork projects is so much fun!!

Hopefully the girls like them (also the 5th one that I' m going to make). This weekend I won't be able to do anything because we're going away for a two day break, but it's my true intention to send out all five tidies by the end of the week. And at the same time I will be sending out some very long overdue packages to these girls! *blush*
Yes, that's my good intention for next week!!




















I just saw this on Whip up; apparently other people enjoy making them too :))

Have a good weekend all!

Quite pleased...

...with my first proper attempt at making a bag:



It's not bad, is it?!

The only baglike thing I've tried before were two big shoppers. One for myself (I use it daily) and one for my sister-in-law. This one:



I made the pattern of this bag up and I'm rather happy with it. For a future bag I would try to do it a little different, but not much :)
While I was sewing I noticed that the fabric was in fact quite beautiful (it was thrifted... ooh I'm proud of myself!).
















Amber ordered (demanded) two bags for herself, so I suppose those will be next on my to do-list!















Oh, and I received my order of postcards last week. They were supposed to be "free", but I had to pay almost 25 euros for them. Still, now I have 100!



*Blogger is being a pain, so I'll add the other photos later!*
Edit: Blogger is in a good mood today (almost weekend), so I've added some more photos!

Garden update

I thought it was time to show you some recent photos of our garden.
We've achieved quite a bit in the past year!



In February we laid the base.
Over the past couple of months we continued the work by removing bushes, weeds, tiles etc.
My mum is in charge of the planting and she's done a great job so far.

Michel and his father have spent quite some days paving the garden. Everything is now finished!!
Our terrace is ready; I'm so happy with this! It is so wonderful to sit outside at any time of the day, but I particularly love having dinner outside; it makes me feel as if I'm on holiday in my own house!
This is what it now looks like at the back (of course it's a bit bare and empty right now, but next year this will all be plants):



As a comparison this is what it looked like when we first moved in last year... quite a difference!



And this is at the front of the house:



I also made a small vegetable garden which consisted of carrots, strawberries, tomatoes and zucchini. The children (and I) have enjoyed watching everything grow. And picking your own tomatoes is a real thrill!!



Before this house we lived in an apartment on the first floor. Having a garden is still such a luxury to us; I want to hold on to that feeling forever! The fact that the children can safely play outside and just walk in and out at any given moment is fantastic... I'm just really happy with our house and garden:)))

Even the weeds are great... look!

Cushion extravaganza

This weekend I finally finished the three cushions that I started oh so long ago!



I had some doubts about the colour-combos and wasn't sure whether they would turn out to my liking. Suddenly I realised what they needed though... a yellow border.
Now they are as bright and cheerful as I wanted them to be. And they make my shabby sofa not look so shabby anymore :))



For Simon's birthday I just had to make him a cushion as well. Why? Because I made one for Amber's birthday too, of course! Michel was a bit worried that I was going to make a girly cushion for him, but he can relax... this cushion is perfectly suitable for a boy, isn't it?!


I wanted to make an I spy cushion, because Simon is really starting to talk (a lot!) right now. He is literally learning new words and sentences everyday. He is able to identify all the images on the cushion... even if it is just broom-broom and clack-clack sometimes!


By the way, almost all the fabrics I used I received from Amy a couple of months ago, for which again I say thanks!


Until so far this cushion extravaganza, but since I LOVE making cushions, I'm sure there will be new ones in the future!


For other people's cushions see the Flickr-group.

And a good time was had by all

(I love his little hands on this photo!!)

It was a glorious day yesterday.
The wheather was beautiful and warm.
We had lovely guests, who brought many gifts.



There was robotcake



And frog decoration



And most important of all... the birthday boy had a wonderful day!!



Some more photos here.

Happy birthday, sweet little monkey!!

Small scale crafting

The past couple of days I've managed to squeeze in quite a bit of crafting. Not much to show it for since I'm working on several projects at the same time, but it definitely feels good to pick up some of my old routines again.

Anyway, I've finally started making something that the whole crafting world has made months ago: tissue holders. I can't believe how incredibly quick and easy these things are!! Almost instant craft satisfaction. In fact, picking out the fabrics and ribbons is really the most work... but also the most fun :))

The first one I made was a wee bit too small:

The second one a little too large:


And the third one just right:


I love them all. And I love making them. So family and friends be aware... from now on every occasion is a tissue holder occasion!


And just a sneak peek of something I'm making for Simon's birthday.

Sentimental journey

Everytime we go to Weesp (with almost always a stop at the ice-cream salon) we go on a sentimental journey.
At almost every buiding, shop, bridge etc. we stop and say:"Do you remember when...?" The place turns us into right geriatrics, but we just love it :)

We lived in Weesp from December 1998 to January 2001. It was our first little apartment together. It was tiny and our stuff hardly fitted in there (we've always been hoarders) but we loved it.
The view from our kitchenwindow was delightful: two windmills.


We spent two very happy years there. I studied in Amsterdam, Michel in Utrecht. Michel quit his studies and started a job, I began my dissertation. We got married. Then I was pregnant, and unfortunately that was the end of Weesp. There was NO WAY we could have fitted another human being in that little house, even if it were a baby. Luckily we were able to find a bigger apartment quickly.


Still, that little town along the river will always have a special place in our hearts. I hope we'll keep coming back there for a long time to come! And of course bore the children with all our sentimental talk :))


Click on the photos to see the descriptions and notes!

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*The result of the big hat drawing... Mijk & LittleSnoring will also receive a surprise from me!*

Grand dessert

First of all let me say thank you for the warm welcome-back you all gave me! Now I'm really in the mood for blogging again :)))
I'm going to draw the other two names for the presents tomorrow, so if you want to be included in the drawing then tell me!

Today I fancied going to my favourite ice-cream salon. Luckily for me it wasn't difficult to persuade the rest of the family to go.


We all enjoyed our ice-creams and finished every last bit of it!!


Some more photos here.

How long does it take to write your 100th post?!

Hello friends, remember me?!

Isn't this lovely mild 1st of September a wonderful day to start blogging again?!
First, a thousand apologies for going on a blog-break without saying so!!!

When Amber's summerholiday began and my days at work continued to increase, there simply wasn't time to blog (or sew, or read or do anything that wasn't connected to the children, housekeeping and work). I wanted to let you all know that I wouldn't be around for a while, but at the same time I didn't want to spend my 100th post (this one) writing that!
Especially since I wanted to hand out somes pressies, but knew I didn't have time to make anything.
So that's why it's been so quiet here for the past seven weeks or so... but I can't wait to get started again :)))

So presents!!
I've decided to make something for these lovely girls, since they so very kindly enquired after my well-being and said they missed my blogging... that made me feel so good and it gave me the extra motivation to start blogging again. So Hannah, Krista and Claudia, I will send you an e-mail for your addresses!

Also I'm going to make something for two other people that stop by to say hello. That's going to be a real test; I wonder whether anyone still checks this blog!

Well, it feels good to be back and I 'm really looking forward to catch up on everything thing!

By the way, these were the Poppes I finally managed to send to Seattle for Plush You II (that took me a looooong time too!).