For her teacher

Sinterklaas was here. And we noticed! M was glad that she had drawn her teacher to make a surprise for. As her teacher loves cats, we came up with this idea. The pillow is made by M, only for the zipper she got some help.


She was determined to make the present that was hidden inside, herself as well. She made a cooks apron (that will be shown some other time). In school the paper shredder was just emptied, so she collected paper and even made these paper scraps herself. Well done, girl!

Dear Sint

This is a letter for Sint, as left in L's shoe the other night. A wish because of one mosquito, a die hard that is still living in L's bedroom.

New!

Our garden gnome, made by L (7y).

Being together

I must say, Lieve, Gaia, Kika, Jula, Sofia, M and L, you were great! You were playing, swimming, were dropped, were slumbering (a bit short), were swimming again, played again. I really loved to be on tour with you!

Je ziet het aan de bomen

We celebrated St. Jan in school. What used to be a sunny feast, turned out to be cold, wet and cloudy. Fortunately we made some pictures on Sunday evening, when the girls made their own wreaths. And M and L didn't mind the rain; they just danced and sung!

Like papa

F loves bikes, recumbents, carts, etcetera. And because he is not able to discard all kinds of 'lovely' parts like wheels, gears, pipes, and so on, our basement is a place where I don't like to be, but F so much the more.
Yesterday M spent the day in the footsteps of her father. Together with her best friend she made a sulky. (Now I know at least, what a sulky is :)) For many years they run along our streets and the park together with their stick horses. Both horse lovers can't stop doing so. I like them being outside this often, barely taking time for a break to eat or drink. The sulky was made by the two of them. In the end F helped a bit fastening the wheels. And there they run!
Btw, did you mention this post of Vervlogen dagen? I so hope L will once like a party like that.

Sewing daughters

Sofia of Erika stayed overnight last week. As always Sofia took along her typical Mikodesign doll. The day after M and Sofia were both so eager to sew the I love Paris doll set I had still laying around. Without any help because I was in the office. They solved sewing machine problems together and learned each other how to sew. This is so great! In the meantime doll clothes were made as well.

Good timing because this doll will accompany M to Paris in less than two weeks! Erika spent hours with me to well prepare our Paris visit. Thanks, Erika!

Just a tip

Sorry, but because we are having quite a cultural weekend, this post is about some Dutch tips and will be in Dutch.
Vanochtend gingen we naar de film, naar Het Mannetje van de Maan en ik kan het niet laten hierover te bloggen: zo'n aanrader! Dus pak de kinderen bij de hand en ga!
Gisteren ging ik met L naar Gaultier in de Kunsthal, ook een aanrader. L keek naar de gezichten, ik naar de jurken. Genoten!

Meet us...

... this morning.

Learning from kids

Trula Kids invited me to join in her daily blog posts about what we learn from our children. She is featuring pictures of blog friends as an advent calendar. Go and read these series, because they are lovely and cheer up your day. This is my contribution of today.

Tiny treasures

Look at these tiny treasures M and L brought home from school last week! 1, 2, 3: by L, 4: by M.
(I miss them at this moment, they'll be home again tomorrow evening...)

Scary

In school L loves to make colorful meters with her knitting fork. This week her teacher created a snake of it; now L has a new friend that she's carrying everywhere she goes.

Into the sun

This morning we felt cold at the beach, but yesterday...

Made in school

Look what L made in school!

A wooden cooking spoon was turned into a puppet theater doll.

And she's (and we are) so glad with her creation!

Look at her!

I actually don't know why there was such emptiness on this blog. I mean, I don't know why nothing came out of my hands. I've no excuses, but only want to say: hi again!
And yes, finally I'm knitting again. About that later. First of all my daughter: she can do it! I'm so proud. And believe me, about 15 years ago there was a neighbour girl riding an unicycle. From the moment I saw her, there was a secret desire in me: to have an unicycling daughter.
And this weekend it became truth! So happy and to see her happy.

No time for crafting

Last weekend we lived outside... on the ice! Look at this Dutch scenery, we enjoyed it so much!
Well done, M, on your new 'noren'!

M too

Sometimes M can be jealous, even when it's about a quite childish subject like this bag...

I studied Industrial Design, which is about designing serial products, but please don't ask me to produce products in a serie, even not a small serie. I don't like serial production (except for birthdays!). So I suggested M to sew this bag herself.

Last week after school she really wanted to and when she does I put all my own plans aside to be at her side. I always want to encourage her in making things. She chose fabrics from my stock and started. And finished that same afternoon! (She only asked me to sew the bird in white so it would be a bit embossed.)
Now her softy horse - what else? - can be carried with her. Compliments M!

Balloon peep

Today we had a lot of laughter with the camera. L asked me to make a photo of the high peep sound of a still-laying-around-balloon. Of course I did. Then we made these series.
No craft post this time (although M has been sewing in the afternoon), but just a funny post :).

Fun!

F has given L a pulley as a birthday gift. And she's loving it! It suits our house very much as we have a high void next to our stairs.

During her birthday party all kids tackled their presents to L. Here you can see them at work. Do you see M's head upstairs?

Temporary dress

Yesterday morning all school tables in M's class were set with tablecloths, candles and lovely food. To let the breakfast taste even better all kids were asked to dress theirselves in Christmas style.
For me these days before Christmas were crazy busy in the office. Gives me double feelings: exhausting on one hand, but on the other hand I'm grateful, because compared to other architectural firms suffering huge crises in the Netherlands, we must be glad to have such a full portfolio right now. Thursday evening I attended a great Christmas diner in the office (like last year). Late in the evening I suddenly remembered my promise to M: turning a shiny skirt of mine into a dress for her! So back home at midnight the sewing machine quickly did his 5-minute job. Used stitches are long so I'll be able to turn it into a skirt again easily. But not before Christmas is over, M assured me.