December daily, day eighteen & nineteen

On the last day of school before Christmas break the kids come home with bags full of artwork... love to decorate the house with it!

December daily, day sixteen & seventeen

Christmas celebration at school. So exciting to go to school in the night and now even with snow!

December daily, day fourteen & fifteen

14 en 15 december was ik in Beekbergen voor een training. Nieuwe inzichten, moeilijke momenten, mooie dingen.... ik kijk uit naar het derde blok in januari.

The 14th and 15th of December I was away for a training. New insights, difficult moments, nice things..... looking forward to the third block of this training in January.

Hidden journaling for day 15.

December daily, day thirteen

Zondag dus geprobeerd de kids leuk op de kiek te krijgen... was uiteindelijk toch niet helemaal blij met het resultaat en vandaag (week later) heb ik een nieuwe poging gedaan en beter geslaagd. Truc was losse foto's van de kinderen en dat zo gebruikt.

Last week we tried to get a nice pictures of the kids for our Christmas cards, but I was not too happy. Today (a week later) I tried again and was more lucky.... taking seperate pics of the kids did the trick.

December daily, day twelve

In awe Remco picks up all ornaments, the first shines beautiful, the other is just 'so big'! I don't hold on to a color theme this year and let him choose the spots to hang the ornaments.

December daily, day eleven...

December Daily, day ten

De laatste even voor vandaag. Donderdag ging ik eten met mijn vriendinnen... zoals altijd een warm bad... De tekst verderop is gejat van Francine... als je nog een blog wil volgen zou ik die van haar absoluut aanbevelen.

December Daily, day nine

Tomorrow I have an early Christmas diner with my dearest friends. I bought gifts for Jolanda, but also made everybody an ornament. This idea is from Donna Downey.... I am inspired by her a lot!

December Daily, day eight

Er zijn ook wel eens jaren dat de kinderen zich de dag na pakjesavond vervelen. Dit jaar niet.... ze zouden wel met alles tegelijk willen spelen.

There have been years that the kids are bored after the big St Nicholas celebration where they have received a lot of toys, but not this year. They are enjoying themselves and would like to play with it all.

December Daily, day seven

Sinterklaas vind ik een geweldig feest, eigenlijk wel het leukste feest voor kinderen, maar na een week of 3 ben ik er klaar mee. Na pakjesavond mag alles opgeborgen worden en ben ik blij dat de oude man weer naar het Zuiden is afgereisd.... de kaarsjes worden weer aangestoken.

St Nicholas is a wonderful holiday, I actually feel it's the best holiday for kids, but after three weeks of St Nicholas songs and lot of candy I am done with it. After the big celebration we store all decorations and I am to know that the old man has left for the South.... we light the candles!

As soon as St Nicholas has left, it's time bring in some holiday spirit. Remco is impressed by the candles.

December Daily, day six

Ik loop weer wat achter, maar 'stay tuned' .... er komen een aantal posts vandaag!

Running behind, but stay tuned... there will be a lot of posts today!

After years of silence, the band Rammstein is touring again and WE have tickets. It's a great experience. The show is wonderful with (litterally) a lot of fireworks.

December the 5th, St Nicholas

En op zaterdag is het dan eindelijk zover .... pakjesavond. Rond een uur of 4 komen opa en om en tante Eline, oom Peter en Iona, Jesse en Rinske. De laatste voorbereidingen worden achter de rug van de kinderen getroffen, filmpje opgezet voor wat afleiding..... en om 5 uur is de verrassing groot... Sinterklaas en 2 pieten staan zomaar ineens in de kamer!

And then there is Saturday... with th highlight of the St Nicholas celebration (and the big haul of presents ;-)). Around 4 p.m. the family arrives and the last preparations are done behind the back of the kids. We play a movie for the distraction and then there is the big surprise..... St Nicholas and 2 of his black Pete's are in our very own house!

Like it should be, the kids are spoiled with lots of presents. St Nicholas' visit was a big surprise and I think everybody was a bit intimidated. When the kids are sleeping we also have presents for the adults; what a lovely evening!

These are the included pictures for a better look:

December Daily, the 4th

Niet veel aan toe te voegen...

Of course St. Nicholas comes to visit school too. He arrives with a Rolls Royes. The presents are wrapped in wrapping paper that the kids made themselves. The diabolo's are well received!

December Daily, day 1-3

Een paar jaar geleden heb ik een gratitude-album gemaakt, met voor elke dag in december een fotootje van of een beschrijving van een moment waar ik dankbaar voor was. Toen ook al ingegeven door het December Daily album van Ali Edwards. Toen dacht ik dat het lastig was voor elke dag iets te vinden van wat gedaan hebben. Nu ga ik het gewoon proberen...

A couple of years ago I made a gratitude album, with for each day in December a picture of or a description of something I was thankful for. I was was inspired by Ali Edwards 's December Daily album. Back then I thought it would be too hard to find everyday something that we did on that day. Now I just will see where it brings me...

Nu eerst 1 tot en met 3 december.... voordat ik weer dagen achter loop. Uiteraard nu nog vooral op de Sint gericht (klik om afbeelding te vergroten).

For now first December 1st till 3rd ... just to be sure I won't be behind for days. Of course this is mainly filled with St Nicholas activities (see for more about this here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas). Click to enlarge the images.

1 december:

2 december:

3 december:

Being creative....

I have been following Donna Downeys blog for quite some time now and every Wednesdays I am inspired by her 'Inspirational Wednesdays'.... I wanted to make something for our awesome hosts for the visit to Slovenia last weekend, browsed through Donna's blog and came up with these. Played with gesso, alcohol inks, glimmer mist, glue, paint, wire and water.... it was so much fun. Oh and I added some punched butterflies after I took the pictures... nice little touch (click for bigger views). I like the results and I hope Jacqueline and Martin will too!

LOAD 6-9

Scrapped again.... my mojo is certainly not back, but at least I did some pages with more then 1 picture (which are easier imo)...

This one is about a camp Tessa went to last year, where she learned a lot.

No words needed.... they love each other so much, something parents only can wish for!

When the weather is good, we like to take a walk at the lake near Reeuwijk. This was last autumn.

Week 33, 34 & 35

Really have to get my weekly pictures going or I will regret it! In week 33 we invited neighbours over for Tapas.... spent quite some time in the kitchen, but it was a good meal!

I have these silly kids... temps are well above 20C and what do they want to do? Baking cookies. Remco was at daycare, so I loved spending time with Tessa and Sander.

Happy birthday Paul!!!

Week 34 was about 'Vacation-game-week' (doesn't translate very well)... On the final day they had a big parade where each group had chosen a theme... Tessa's was Chinese people and Sander's was Aliens.

The week ended with a lampion parade after the big final show in town. DH walked with Sanders group and I waited to join Tessa's group.

We had a good afternoon with our dear friends Wim and Liesbeth. Long talks and some sunbading were part of it. The weather was good enough to have a small cook out!

And then week 35 was the start of a new school year....

Diner with an old friend/collegue... gee, really hope it won't take us as long to meet again. Diner was so so, but catching up with tears and laughters made it all good.

Wahooooo... Sander's first soccer game.... he was SO excited.