No stage fright at all!

Both our daughters took part in a schoolplay. N. had been only one week in school but they managed to teach her a very cute dance with her classmates (unfortunately the pictures were nothing but blurry). Together with three friends J. had to do a dance on 'liefdeskapitein' (love captain). So one mother bought the hats and I made a last-minute-heart-brooch from felt. The girls practiced a lot with some older girls as their teachers. The 'love captains' did a great job on stage.

Homegrown

The one rhubarb-bush in our garden is situated in a warm, rich and windfree spot. This ideal situation resulted in our first rhubarb cupcakes this year. They tasted a bit too sweet to my taste, but within the hour there were no cakes left. We used this recipe. When I have bought white chocolate I will try this recipe.

Long wished for

I cherished the first presents we got when I knew I was pregnant. They were very special to us. Acknowledging the fact that there is someone growing inside you who is still so invisible and unfeelable (is this an english word? Well, you know what I mean). These reversible baby shoes were sent as such an early present. They're not difficult to make following this detailed tutorial. The fabric with the butterfly and rabbits is from Kristen Doran.

Work and linger

A beautiful sunny day. My father came to help us with the new fence. Or actually we helped him making our fence. He ordered the wood, painted it and put it all together. Of course he was treated on a nice lunch in the garden. Potato-fennel-soup, some slices of pizza and fresh-out-of-the-garden-mint-tea. Janne made a seating-plan, wrote names on little papers and Neeltje decorated them.

International

This stamp-package has just started a far journey. Its for newborn baby Sienna. Her dutch father and french mother met in Dubai. And that's the place where this little girl with her italian name was born. Welcome in this world!

Raining inside

This is how the ceiling in our livingroom looks. We had a leakage and it was not easy to find where the water came from. It appeared to be a tube in the middle of the concrete floor. All that came out of this hole, water and concrete, was lying on the floor. I was not amused. Stressed. But I'm happy we found and solved the problem. Because of all the dust in the house I took the kids for a walk outside. And there the 'ceiling' was wonderful yesterday.

Homesickness

In a few weeks we will be going on a short trip. Our six-year-old is not looking forward to it. She wants to sleep in her own room, her own cosy bed. To make it a bit easier on her, I made a copy of her bedroom in a matchbox to take with her on vacation. Inside she will find small softies from pictures of her and her favorite dolls.

QEC

'Quid est, Cornelia?' A sentence out of our first lesson in Latin, at the school where we all met. More than 25 years ago. The abbreviation of that sentence became the name for our circle of five friends. We get together a few times a year and those evenings, days or weekends are the best. Today husbands and kids joined us for a wonderful sunny afternoon.

Big-multi-purpose-bag tutorial

I've made many of these big bags. They are not photogenic but very practical. For toys, for gardening stuff, for laundry or use it as a beachbag. Several times someone asked about how to make these. Well, here's the quick and easy tutorial to make one yourself. Go to the tutorial.

Bowl 1

In our house you can find several bowls filled with things that had been lying around before. Exploring these bowls is probably more interesting for me than for you. But I liked the graphic result of lining up all grey and greyish things found in this particular bowl.

Collection of hairclips

You may have seen this book somewhere before in blogworld. But I would like to mention it again. How to be an explorer of the world by Keri Smith. It is so much fun. It makes you pay attention to the small beauty's around you. It urges you to look better, discover patterns, collect random things and document them. This book would be a great gift to yourself.

Blues

I promise, after this there won't be any posts about the birthdays of the girls for a while :-). Today is her real birthday. For the last time to daycare. She wanted the same hand-out as her big sister. So I varied on the flowerseeds-theme. This time we put forget-me-not-seeds in a small pocket. Accompanied by a felt forget-me-not-pin and a box of raisins. Again in a printed paper bag. Wednesday will be her first formal day in school and she is looking forward to it. So, do I.

Another day

Another party. Unwrapping presents at the breakfast-table. She was excited about her Kidizoom pro. After breakfast we went to play 'jeu de boules'. She got a set of boules from one of her friends yesterday. A perfect gift since there is a special court for it in our neighbourhood, next to our vegetable garden. Later, in the afternoon, the grandparents and other family-members would come for a visit, so we enjoyed this quiet time outside before the hectic afternoon was going start.

Almost four

A small (one hour) cake-eating-party for our little one. Very shy when her first friend came in, but soon enjoying to be the center of attention. Yelling 'this is exactly what I wanted' everytime she unwrapped a present. Some cake, some playing. One hour is short but perfect for these youngsters. Neeltje needed the rest of the afternoon to unwind.

Back-up

A short, involuntary blogbreak. My loyal camera fell from the kitchen sink on the stone floor. Deceased. It made me realize how important it was to me. I use it on a daily basis. A new one was needed immediately. I played with the idea of buying a reflex camera. But I'm too impatient. So I bought myself a new compact camera. With the possibility to take RAW-pictures. 'Every disadvantage has an advantage' (a quote from a famous dutch football player)! By the way, does anybody know a good way to back-up a blog?

Bedtime stories

Just before going to sleep our six-year-old got very inquisitive. 'Mom, where do babies come from?' I'd been expecting the question for a while so I started my story about eggs and sperms. 'No, not that, but where does the first baby come from?', she asked. She gave me a surprised look when I told her that nobody knows that for sure. That some people think there must be a higher spirit to have created everything and others believe in evolution. Silence. After a while she says: 'I don't think there is a god'. Immediately the next question: 'But mom, when the earth is round, why don't we feel it when we're hanging upside down?' Only six. What will it be when she's 12 or 15?

Hotels in Paris and Copenhagen?

During a nice walk in the woods we were discussing and planning some trips. First we will go to France with a two day stop in Paris. Can anyone recommand a child-friendly hotel not too far from the center of the city? Next trip on the list is Copenhagen. Without children. Any tips for a cosy hotel in that fantastic city? A custom-made stamp for the perfect suggestion!

Upcycling

One big brown paper bag, made into two giftwrappings and 8 gifttags. And still more than half of the bag left. I used my daughters stampkits from Djeco for decoration. And sewed the layers together. I was surprised by the beauty of the packages and checked out our birthday-calender right away to find a reason to make more of these.

Mass production

We have a lot of birthdays in spring. And when one girl gets a schoolbag, the other one would be disappointed when getting none. So, L is for Luna, the fox is for Neeltje and the wintersports landscape will be for Zenna. Every bag is lined with oilcloth. Fabrics are all from Ikea. I went there yesterday and they had a great new line of fabrics named Charlotta. Charlotta Block is my favorite.