Wash Day

I have been putting off doing the hand wash for weeks, and finally decided to tackle it this afternoon. Got my trusty green tub, got my woolite, got my pile of dirty sweaters, and set to work.

Sonia asked if she could help (gosh, I love that kid), and after a few minutes of pushing and prodding a heavy wet mass of wool around in the trusty green tub she thought of an easier way to get the job done.

She peeled her tights off, flung her skirt aside and stepped up to the task. She giggled and splashed her way through six sweaters, two pillow cases and a lonely sock that happened to be lying on the floor.

Maddy joined in the fun using her muscle power to help us rinse and wring it all out. She rolled each item up in a towel and danced and hopped on each little bundle until most of the water had been soaked up.

I watched and learned. And put music on. And took pictures. And was happy.
So, so happy that today was Wash Day.

Actually...

So this evening at bedtime the girls were doing their ritual chatting before closing their eyes, and as I lay next to Sonia in the dark on her bunk, I participated in the following conversation.

Madelin: So, what kind of animal am I again?

me: In the Chinese astrology book?

Madelin: Yeah.

me: a rabbit.

Madelin: But I am also a scorpion, right?

me: yeah. In the other astrology book, you are a scorpion. Funny combination - a scorpion-rabbit. And Sonia is a lion-lamb.***

Sonia: But actually I am a giraffe.

Madelin: and I am actually a pink fluffy flying Webkinz horse.

Sonia: Yeah, me too.

And the two pink fluffy flying Webkinz horses fell fast asleep, impervious to the stars and the planets swirling around above their sweet heads.

*** Strictly speaking Sonia is a sheep, but she was not at all pleased with this and so we told her she was a sweet little lamb. She liked that a little better.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is a snapshot of Sonia's first party, given by her friend Fee from preschool in honor of Valentine's day. Sonia is the one in the pink shiny dress. If you are wondering why her face is grey (as opposed to princess pink or tiger orange), it is because she asked to be made up as a hippopotamus. A spotted hippopotamus, no less.

Under her bangs, perched above her soft little eybrows, there were two rather convincing hippopotamus ears. And a spot.
Isn't she wonderful?

Madelin's 7th birthday!!!

Happy birthday, dear Maaadeliiiiiiiiiin,
Happy birthday to you.....

Yep. 7 years old. Unbelievable how fast time flies when you are having...sleepless nights and hectic days full of unexpected joys and sorrows, and...fun. Look at that girl enjoying all the attention. Beautiful!

We had fun at Madelin's party. No really - we actually did. The children produced less frenetic energy than usual since they had just had a week's vacation from school (note to self - always plan party during school vacations), and we were more relaxed because we had to throw the whole thing together in two days. Julia, a classmate, got her invitations out before us for the Wednesday afternoon we had in mind (Julia's mama is extremely organised. bah.), so Marten made the executive decision to hold the party on Madelin's birthday itself. When I say that "we" had two days to throw the party together, I speak euphemistically. Marten had two days, because I had to work (darn). He is amazing. Truly. He prepared enough games for two parties, including a fabulous photo adventure walk in our neighborhood, and managed to keep 6 little girls and two grown women amused and in good spirits for three hours. I just made the cake and sang and did the washing up. Lest you think I am trying to steal Marten's glory by posting a photo featuring me center stage, I should mention that my parents have not yet seen me in glasses... so, ta da!!! What do you think?!
p.s. Thanks Corine for letting me know that you are still checking in!

Hi Dad! (I have no illusions that anyone else is checking this blog anymore...)
These pictures were taken this afternoon at a huge children's animal farm in Oosterhout where we were visiting Stella (our friend and former nanny) and her boyfriend Guido.
Sonia picked a marigold for my lapel..

and here we have the girls hamming it up on a spring chicken.

All I want for Chrithmas...

... is my two front teeth!

Teeth number 4 and 5 fell out last week, and three others are loose. Thith kid ith going to have to thtart eating oatmeal if thith keepth up!

One surprise after another...

Our Marten turned 40 on June 14th... so I decided to throw him a surprise party on the Saturday before. It is a great pity I was not blogging during the weeks leading up to this surprise party, as it was a regular comedy of errors and I was just a teensy weensy bit stressed out.

The important thing is that Marten had a fantastic birthday. We went to the forest on Saturday afternoon (am trying not to think now about the ticks we found on us afterwards...)
and on Sunday we had a great afternoon of football (soccer, of course) with a miraculous turn-out of our friends and family here. Marten had no idea any of it was coming, and his response made every moment of preparation worthwhile.

Here is the birthday boy with Sonia and his birthday cakes. Sonia thinks those cakes look pretty good indeed.

Maddy noticed the lack of party hats (yeah, well... can't think of everything, now can I?!?!) and set to work fashioning one for Marten out of a paper napkin. Her summer collection will be available soon in a boutique near you.

Maddy and Soniaberry

The weather suddenly turned good, so we went to Zegerplas (the lake by our house). Within a half an hour of this photo, the girls had given up wading and trying to catch little fish with their net in favour of stripping down to their skivvies and splashing eachother. This photo makes me think of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn stories.

Friends...

Sonia and Isabelle are both thrilled with the idea of eachother, but are still trying to figure out how to express their affection for eachother without either knocking the other over with hugs (Sonia) or going all shy and quiet (Isabelle). Here they seem to have found a comfortable middle road.

Photo taken on June 4th. Happy Birthday, Courtney!!!

Loose toof

Here is Maddy with a toof so loose, it swung in and out like a little white barn door. Hanging by a thread. For days on end. Needless to say, the suspense was killing us.

Maddy was so excited she could hardly stand it; we all had to look several times a day. I have somehow earned her trust in judging a.) whether the tooth was indeed looser (always say yes), b.) whether she should let me give it a good yank and be done with it already (always say no after a fair amount of teasing) c.) when it would fall out all by itself (always say any day now). This photo was taken on the 12th of May.

13 suspensful days later on the 25th of May, the loose toof finally popped out while Maddy was brushing her teeth. Hurrah! Once you have observed the enormous hole in her smile, please note the soft look in her eyes. The loss of her first top front tooth did something to her. As happy as she was, she needed a little time to adjust to her new appearance. When I saw this look on her face, I remembered the feeling I had when I lost my first top front tooth. Excited, startled, a little bit sad, but mostly amazed that I had changed. And that there was no going back. And everyone in the world could see it! The toof was out. Funny how that works.

The garden

The garden! These pictures were taken on April 13th... Marten replanted the border with healthy new plants and, thanks to our diligent care, they still look great two months later. We are very proud of ourselves this year!

Sonia is putting a candle in one of the magical garden fairy lights I got from Jan Anne and Greetje for my birthday. I love them.

As we sat outside enjoying the mild evening and the magical garden fairy lights, Marten (the brute) wondered whether the airplanes coming out of Schiphol could see our little landing strip...
sheesh.

At home with Rembrandt

We're back online...
My apologies for the wait (thank you for your patience, Dad).

In order to get re-aquainted, what will follow here is a series of photos with brief comments. Enjoy!

This first one was taken in Amsterdam in April. We went with our new friend Lies to the Rembrandt House and on our way back to the metro we stopped to enjoy this street musician...

In the Rembrandt House, the girls got a recorded tour especially made for kids. Great fun. At one point, we are in Rembrant's receiving room and I turn around to see Sonia climbing up onto a beautiful, delicate antique chair.
Me: No, no Sonia... don't climb on that chair!
Sonia: Mag wel van Rembrandt! (Rembrandt said I could!)