Tip for 'Sinterklaas'

On one hand I very agree with Petra. But at the same time I love to be an active mother when it comes to preparing for Sinterklaas. I early collect all kinds of presents and start from now on to make some of them myself.
For those other early ones like me I have a tip. Here you see our productive 4-years-old last sunday morning, sitting on my pillow. I don't know if you all know a knitting fork. L loves to make meters of cord with it. It is more easy than 'punnikken' (who knows the word in English?). If you think it's a great Sinterklaas present you can order it here. Together with some thicker yarn than L is using, it makes your child can start right away.

Autumn inside the house

This week we heart Sinterklaas (the old man behind our typical Dutch childrens feast) on the radio! He said he is packing for his boattrip right now. And this week I did a lot of shopping for the 5th of December too... So our daughters are getting excited (including still believer M of 9,5!), and I started preparing.
Before we exchange it into a Sinterklaas scene, I'm showing you the autumn scene we made in our hall. Plus are we leaving tomorrow to enjoy the autumn outside the house.

Me too

The leftover thread was laying on the kitchentable and suddenly was into my good old scarf. To make it more easy I quickly handsewed the ends together with a colormatching sewing thread. The crosses are less easy to make than you would expect. To get a neat result on both sides you have to take a look on either side of your work to control where the needle is coming out. The circular scarf can be wrapped two or three times, depending the cold outside.
Now M and I are a visible set too!

Nightstands

I like to show you our nightstands, that actually hang about 10 cm above the floor... After sending the design to the furniture maker, he asked me: so you mean like a door, but it is a cabinet? Yes, that's what I mean.
The open side of the wooden cubes is against the wall (a wardrobe in our case). You can turn them for making the bed easily and for using them as storage. The outlet for charging the mobile phones is out of view.
Finally a detail for freaks like me: the direction of the wood is vertical on the sides; on top a piece of a wooden panel is used with no clear direction.

Set

My daughters both love sets. Underwear, but also this hat and scarf. M was so happy, especially with the yellow kisses! I hope she is not going to sleep with it...

This hat is really simple, so you don't need a pattern. To obtain the right size M only let me fit a few times. I prefer simple, classic patterns, but a site like Ravelry is a tip for those who don't know it yet. Go there to download thousands of amazing free patterns!

Reading

Last winter our little L finally could join her big sister at school. We loved to give her a matching present: a schoolbag with a lunchbox and her first reading book. The book was a personalised one: for every letter of the alphabet I made drawings of her dress, her softie, her bike, and so on. But also things in our house like the lamp above our kitchen table, her little wooden kitchen, etcetera.
 

Just take a look!

L loves blue

This treat L gave to the toddlers when she got four. Because she was going to leave them, we wanted to give them a little L as a souvenir. I painted each little L by hand. Presented proudly on a gigant tangerine, which we wrapped in a festive paper. Through the holes you can peep at the bright orange present.

P2 k2, p2 k2, k2 p2, k2 p2

Great wool to warm my daughter, that's a lovely thought. Just finished this scarf. Made of this soft yarn, quickly done with needle 10 and finished with a colorful thread.
Autumn can do his job!

Not yet five

I know L allready is going to be five in a few months, but I can't resist showing some pics of her anniversary last winter. We had have such great days! Especially the goodbye at the toddler daycare was so heartwarming!
Later on I'm going to show you some crafting I did and what was inside the wrapping paper...

Rewarded with an award

Now I feel I'm a real part of Blogland: I got a first award of Tante Ekster. Thank you Belinda!
The award means that the receiver should share 7 random personal things. Mmmm, that's not easy... But here they come:

• I always go to bed too late.
• I jog an hour once a week, busy chatting with my friend.
• I cycle a lot: 7 km to school, 7 km from school to work, 7 km from work to home. Children are taken with me, so especially M has expanded muscles. You'll believe it after reading this post.
• I cycle fast, I even can't go slow.
• I terribly bite my nails, now followed by my children. I'm very ashamed.
• I love to drive a car, but also try to avoid it.
• I think my observation skills are extraordinary.
• I love a shop like Koekela in Rotterdam.

Sorry, I gave you some more secrets...
After doing this I may send the award to other bloggers. Here comes the one and only Versatile Blogger Award to you, Boventonen, Vervlogen Dagen and Rare Rusk, for being starters in Blogland. Wish you all the best!