The making of...

The dog

2012-01-19T12:15:00.002+01:00

Guys I have been pretty occupied by the dog recently and have started a blog about him (see linklist).
Also because the kids getting older and my time still being limited, I am thinking of closing down this one.
There is always Rotterdamdailyphoto too plus I am all over all sorts of social media so take your pick.
Thanks for following and commenting and talk to you on one of the other platforms I hope.

Loverboys

2011-12-29T12:23:00.002+01:00

I dont know how we came across this subject but yesterday morning we discussed the phenomena of loverboys at the breakfast table and how these boys isolate girls from their family and friends and thus make them dependant. Timo and Morten were listening attentively and nodding every now and then and Caroline clearly could not imagine herself ever ending up in such a situation. Robbert said we wanted to make sure that they could always come to us even if they did something wrong or were ashamed or simply put, had a problem.

Without hesitation Caroline said: well, now that you mention it, I just cannot fall asleep at nights anymore.

She was very insulted when hearing the laughter.

I proudly present

2011-12-19T16:45:00.001+01:00

His full pedigree name is Byela van Riva Odin Thorgal, but we'll call him Thorgal. Just 3 more weeks to go!

o yes

2011-12-12T20:20:00.002+01:00

Finally!!! We had judo exams today and Morten equals his dad in rank. Caroline and Timo did a great exam too and got a higher grade on their belt.

Sinterklaas

2011-12-02T17:12:00.003+01:00

Just a couple more days and we'll be celebrating Sinterklaas at my sisters'. It's been weeks of shopping, wrapping and writing poems but I am almost done.
5 years ago my mother and granddad were still there and the amount of presents we shoveled from household to household was even bigger but this year my nephew's girlfriend is there too, so slowly our family is growing again. I like that a lot.

Puppy alarm 2

2011-11-28T09:21:00.001+01:00

breaking news

2011-11-22T19:19:00.002+01:00

when i got home today i caught Morten reading penthouse.
hahaha. he put it down immediately but simply because he over-reacted he made me think and look at what he was reading.

on another note: caroline learned the word (and meaning) of a dental dam recently and now throws this at the table every now and then.

any ideas anyone?

Sinterklaas is in da country

2011-11-22T09:04:00.006+01:00

Puppy alarm

2011-11-09T17:42:00.002+01:00

O god, I can drool over this picture (and more on the breeders site) for hours!! Yesterday afternoon Riva got 7 puppies and one of them is going to be ours in 8 weeks time. AAGGGHHHH.
Seriously I can hardly contain myself.

Mario

2011-11-01T11:59:00.004+01:00

For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook; Mario-Morten as he went to his Halloween party yesterday evening. It took about 15 minutes and 2 bottles of shampoo to get the black dye out of his hair.

Thorgal

2011-10-30T14:14:00.002+01:00

o yes, we have got the name, we know where his place in the living room is going to be, all we have to do now, is wait 2 more weeks (or so) before our puppy is being born!!!!
Über excited I might add and slightly worried too about what we are getting ourselves into.
If you want to see the mom, take a look at the breeders site (http://www.byelavanriva.nl/).

Autumn holiday

2011-10-24T09:28:00.011+02:00

We have been away for a couple of days to the eastern part of the Netherlands near the German border. Lovely country scenery, with a cottage without tv or internet access. So lots of trampoline hours and cutting wood for the chimney.

Every now and then we would go out on day trips for instance to Bad Bentheim (the castle) or a country fair (the bird show).

All good things must come to an end. This morning the whole lot went to school again, with Caroline no longer needing someone to bring or get her coz she got her own house key for her birthday!

Caroline 9 yrs

2011-10-24T09:16:00.002+02:00

Amongst her wishes as new bed, new wall paper, money (no coins, but 5 euro bills at least), a dog, nail polish or stickers, there was also a blue 3d DS. And is it cool or what!

Caroline's b-day party

2011-10-13T19:24:00.007+02:00

Because of the shitty weather yesterday, we went to the cinema instead of the attraction park. De Smurfen in 3D. The things you do for your children.
Good times though, she was a happy camper.

goodbye's

2011-10-05T10:26:00.003+02:00

when i started this blog, the kids were little, i had just started my temp agency and along the lines, more children, cats, aupairs and another business (lookingforfriends) came along.
today i am saying goodbye to my first business.
i was not happy in it for a pretty long time and although several attemps were made to make things work, in the end nothing really changed.
this summer holiday i decided enough was enough and after some weeks of negotiating i shold my shares.
i told the others at the office last monday and tonight is the last personnel meeting where i will tell all the employees.
and i have NO idea what to do tomorrow.

i am living off some of my savings for the coming months deciding what will make me happy for the next couple of years.
i have about a zillion vague ideas varying about going on a trip first/sorting out all sorts of things in the house/looking for a dog/looking for a new study etc.

first things first, tonight i say goodbye to 9 years of IW.

may i present

2011-09-06T08:34:00.002+02:00

the new judo club champion in the weight class under 42 kilo. Yeahh!!!
(and i dont know why they are all tilting. Guess they want to counter act for the HUGE trophy)

And that was summer

2011-08-16T20:04:00.003+02:00

A new school year, even a new school for Morten as of next week, a new sewing/piping system and new internet connection. All in one week.
And of course.
Last but not least; a new au pair.

I proudly present...

2011-06-19T19:50:00.002+02:00

Timo at the guitar presentation, yesterday afternoon. Caroline had a hockey tournament but that was cancelled after 3 matches, so the whole family was there to share this moment. I must say, the first song went very well, but the second, uhm, was better when practiced at home. Nerves I reckon.

Judo, what else

2011-06-16T20:50:00.003+02:00

Caroline became 1st for the 1st time evah today at an official judo match. She won 3 out of 3 games. YEAH!! so proud.

and amazed.

coz really.
you should see her during her classes.
she fools around doing ANYthing to avoid actually paying attention and following the teacher's instructions.

which makes her all the more talented i now realize.
YEAH!!!

Windy day

2011-06-04T20:48:00.006+02:00

Caroline was very happy with her first attempts to keep her kite up in the sky today, although the moment the wind fell away (and thus her kite) she would stamp her feet and refused to ever, evah, EV A fly a kite again.

Yes, that little yellow thing up in the air at the left is Timo's kite.

Morten got a new one this morning with quite a long line attached so screamed of joy whenever he could only barely hold it and would almost be dragged into the air.

Caroline discovering she is a tropical island.

Sam

2011-05-25T17:55:00.002+02:00

Koninginnedag

2011-04-30T13:23:00.005+02:00

easter holiday

2011-04-27T21:59:00.003+02:00

Caroline is staying over at Toos' since Tuesday.
Tuesday at 1 i had her first voice mail.
Hello mother,
this is Caroline.
I thought you would like to know i am heading off to the beach with Toos, looking for shells.
bye.
caroline
your daughter.

WTF???

about 2 hrs later another one:
hello mother, it is I again.
we have lots of shells, some have already holes in it so that will make it easier to make a chain.
say hello to daddy, morten en timo and danielle from me.
caroline.

when i called Toos, she answered the phone.
and told me she was having a great time.

today she called us at dinner time.
after i had spoken to her for a minute she wanted to have one of her brothers !!
which one is asked.
do me Timo she said.
and they actually spoke to each other at the phone.

O i miss her.

but i know the moment she walks in and all hell breaks loose i am missing this quietness too.

Clearly, I have too much boobs

2011-04-20T19:53:00.003+02:00

Bought a new (bikram)yoga outfit today. So basically a stretch bikini.
Now really, I am not fat but who do they have in mind when designing these things? Putting it on is a challenge but the moment i start making forward bends (and believe you me, you do those a lot at yoga) boobs and butt cheaks come peeping out.
The thing is too that very often, in order to make your back flat, you have to make a double/triple chin so I am looking at what seem to be a pair of serious boobs a few inches from my nose.
How come you never hear Cameron Diaz complain about that?

Ronald Goedemondt

2011-04-13T11:49:00.003+02:00

Ronald Goedemondt is Timo's favorite comedian. 2 days ago we got word about his school camp taking place right at the days I had gotten tickets for his show.
I almost didnt dare tell him.
first he thought i was making a joke.
then reality hit him and everything drained from his face and he started to cry.

The next day he said he didnt want to go to camp.

I tried to swap the tickets on various sites.
no results.

yesterday i got a tweet about Luxor theater selling an extra show of Ronald Goedemondt in june.
YESSS!
I think i was even happier than he was.
No I wasnot.

So.
I have got 2 tickets left for May 26th.
anyone?

Don't try this at home

2011-04-02T19:27:00.007+02:00

So what do you get when you take 2 bottles of coke, a bunch of Mentos and a crazy boy?

some things that came by in our living room

2011-03-11T20:33:00.002+01:00

Caroline bursting into tears after Morten had gotten an Ipod for his excellent grades (546 points out of 550) for the test for the middle school.
It's not faaaaaiiir. Timo got one for his b-day and now Morten has one and I have nothing.
When i told her Morten did not have one when he was 8, she said there were no Ipods then.

Timo in class when they were doing irregular superlatives and the teacher asked, what comes after good?
Class: better
Teacher: What comes after better?
Timo: Timo

Caroline when she hurt herself and I laughed and I said sorry bout that:
dont say you are sorry, give me some candy.

on another level: we are having some gorgeous springy weather. Of course it will only last for 2 days and then we'll have storm and rain again, but still.
I am happy.

update

2011-03-08T21:54:00.005+01:00

Caroline during her chess championship last Saturday.

O if only he could. Timo stabbing his brother in the army museum in Delft.

Timo with a slightly too big helmet.

And Timo decoding some secret military message.

Rotterdam daily photo 5 yrs!

2011-02-26T10:27:00.004+01:00

Guys, i have had so much fun the last days collecting photo's for Rotterdamdailyphoto's 5th anniversary!

About 2 weeks ago I had written Ahmed Aboutaleb (our mayor) and cc-ed his spokesman. The latter mailed me back after a couple of days that the mayor would cooperate.
I was over the moon!

Once the day came closer of THE photo shoot i realized i had to have some gimmick to make it clear that he was actually posing for Rdamdailyphoto's 5th anniversary and i hadnot taken the photo on another moment or stolen it from somewhere else (not that i ever would, but i wanted somethign that would make it unique).

so i thought of a birthday candle. You know, the one that little children have on their cake and indicates their age.
First it took me 3 shops to get a 5 but in the end i did.
But what are you going to say to him, my colleagues asked a couple of hours before i had the meeting.
And then i thought of the well known sentence from an add from the 90-ies ; Ik durf het bijna niet te vragen, maar....

So, after having witnessed a city council meeting and having waited for some time, I almost peed my pants, but no guts no glory and said; I hardly dare ask, but could you be so kind as to hold this candle?

Did he? Check out the results tomorrow!

2011-02-03T20:04:00.001+01:00

With Danielle moving on this summer, I have started my search for a new au pair. Tonight after I'd come home from work I went up and found Caroline sitting on Danielle and playing with her hair while watching tv. I should have put this photo in our job description.

Middle school

2011-01-14T18:49:00.004+01:00

Morten is turning 12 this summer and thus going (in the dutch system) to the next school; the middle school.
Depending on his grades sofar and the socalled Cito toets he's about to do (with ALL the other 11 yr olds in the Netherlands) he can entry at a certain level.
Sofar the sings are good.
He did a trial Cito and got 546 points (out of 550) so can practically enter at all levels he wishes.
So...
the circus of picking the right school has hit us this week.
Tuesday night Robbert and I went to a presentation at his present school about all the things that await him and us next year on an emotional, social and intellectual level (in short from being the oldest, coolest kids from the school, back to the no-no's, carrying a way too heavy bag and struggling with hours of homework.
And on top of that chances are we are going to enroll him at an English speaking school that will lead to a dutch diploma but also an international baccalaureat. Thanks to all our aupairs out there, our children speak some reasonable english at the moment and at least understand 70% of what is being said (untill you tell 'm to stop fighting of course).

Wednesday afternoon he had some trial lessons at a so called Montessori school and yesterday evening (he was ill so stayed at home) Robbert and i went to a presentation (and some workshops) on the former mentioned school. It was sooooo cool.
I wish I had been at a school like that.
They also take Chinese as of grade 1, go on fieldtrips to Germany, Scotland, Spain, Wales, help out at orphanages in Rumania (!), have pre scholarships at the universities of Leiden and/or Rotterdam, you name it.

A bit overwhelming yes.
and those 8 times a week sports trainings or matches he has now, may be difficult if not impossible to fit in.
we will see.
He's going over next wednesday for some trial lessons AND he despite the above mentioned cito exam had to do their own entry exam, but I wanted to say a big thank you to Galia, Myff, Abigail, Jamie, Austin, Rachel, Melissa, Chelsea, Ally and Danielle on forehand!!

ps; you should hear caroline talk english. she is hilarious. No wait you should hear her sing in english. THAT is hilarious.

Galia

2011-01-02T17:56:00.001+01:00

When Caroline was 3 months old and I started my own firm, Galia became our very first au pair. Today she visited us in the company of her husband and 2 children.
Crazy!
Both for us and her :)

Christmas @ school

2010-12-16T18:13:00.010+01:00

The december stress is hitting us. Sinterklaas, Timo's birthday and now almost Christmas, it's a good thing the kids have their holiday tomorrow. But tonight there was the traditional Christmas dinner at school first.
As always, Caroline was her sunny self.

Timo and Morten couldn't care less about their sister's mood.

She felt better surrounded by friends who knew what she was going through and how it isnt always easy, especially when your mom f*cks up your hair with curls that are all stupid and make you look like a monkey (her words ofcourse, not mine)

Sinterklaas kapoentje gooi wat in mijn schoentje

2010-12-06T18:48:00.011+01:00

Snow ball fight

2010-12-05T10:14:00.006+01:00

Caroline 8 years!

2010-10-17T11:33:00.007+02:00

Seriously, I have so much to tell and show you, but i only can manage the utmost.
Underneath the photo's of Caroline's first sleepover party.
Every now and then she freaked out coz not EVERYBODY did what she wanted and she would run off to her room (where Timo was installed coz his bed was taken by other kids) and cry, and even then, not EVERYBODY would storm up to her room to enquire what they could do to make it up, so basically she had the worst party ever, but somewhere around breakfast this morning she quieted down.

A bit.

Robbert installing the first dvd.
The boys in the house (Robbert and Morten left this morning at 6 coz Morten has an international Judo tournament in Luxemburg) doing their Michael Jackson gig.

The cake.

The lady herself, declared she'd rather have appeltaart.

Sure.

So at 10.30 most of the kids were gone.

Sofar the bedroom is half normal again, the first load of laundry is hanging outside (we are having a cold but wonderful sunny day today) and the waiting is for my sister and her crazy kids now.

And then I hope Morten en Robbert will make it home in time for dinner.

what can i say

2010-10-10T20:20:00.003+02:00

Just so you know

2010-09-28T19:25:00.002+02:00

According to Caroline the difference between porn and sex (am so glad I turned on spam detection) is that with porn you put on a rubber coz it is aimed at having fun and with sex you want to make kids.
How bout that?

ps; if anyone can explain in childrens language what he/she thinks is the difference i will gladly pass it on.

ps2: according to Timo sex was doing it and porn taking a photo of it.

'This sums it up pretty much

2010-09-04T21:17:00.003+02:00

Morten with his 1st prize and the boy he beat in the finals. He became champion of his club today in his own weight class (-38 kg) and to celebrate it was Japanese food and stroopwafel ice for desert.

Canada

2010-08-18T10:53:00.024+02:00

This is JUST a SMALL selection, but seriously, I was done with them. If you want to look through all 708, let me know and i will send you the url.

Sailing

2010-07-17T19:53:00.004+02:00

I was so proud. Morten was sailing on his own this morning (with only a big sail) when we arrived at camp and Timo was handling the small sail in a 2 mans boat. We watched them for about an hour (while Morten's boat capsized about 5 times and Timo's once. Timo said they were soo hot they wanted some cooling down). The have tanned faces and underarms and underneath that wetsuit are just as pale as when they went.

But this time a home coming with presents and cakes and friends.

I am about to go wash the 3rd load of laundry and wish you all a sunny sunday tomorrow!

these last days

2010-07-15T19:40:00.002+02:00

haven been rather hectic and weird.

Abigail came over to watch the semi finals world cup soccer this Sunday
we lost but what an exciting match.

every since then she has been trying to get a flight home, but from all i know only succeeded today when she took the train to fly out from Brussels.

Saturday we brought the boys to sailing camp and today Morten phones us twice to tell us what a great day he had had and how he had gotten the boat in planee. (like skittering a little stone over the water). He was practically yelling to Robbert about how lauw-cool-vet it had been.
The phone he is using btw is the one we bought for Timo to give us a call when he was too homesick and had to be picked up and obviously that didnt happen.

Then there was Caroline reveling in the attention from Abigail and Ally and even Margaud, a friend of Ally who came over.
Also, the first 2 days of the week she spent with Lois a friend from pony camp last week.

about one more week adn we are off to canada!
cannot really believe it.
so much to do.

the parking licence for the new van came in today (o yeah, we sold the old van that weekend too)
which i am happy about, but i still have to get Toos a visitors pass for when she is housesitting.
i have to get an international drivers license.
5 of those things you put around your neck in a plane.
make an appt with the hairdresser.
The pedicure and go for a facial.
loose about 3 kilo's so my jeans fit just a little easier.
see wether i have arranged the insurance for danielle yet.
look up the programme for the world port days in september and order tickets.

Remember how 3 months ago i was pretty anaemic and my HB was 4,1?
I went to the doctor yesterday and it was 8,7.
Eight point seven!!
I almost have to give blood instead of receiving it now.

tomorrow Morten turns 11.
good lord.
i am going to cuddle him to death saturday.

Morten's b day party

2010-07-01T19:08:00.008+02:00

No it is not his bday yet, but in 2 weeks time, school holidays have started and most of friends will probably be elsewhere.
So that's why yesterday we went go-karting!
When we were done Timo declared he defnitely wanted to do this for his party too and we was going to convince Caroline (who isn't even tall enough but that was a mere detail to Timo) she had to too!
Btw, the tall dude? My 14 yr old nephew Job.

Timo's first performance.

2010-06-26T22:17:00.003+02:00

Morten had a judo exam yesterday and went over to the green belt. Timo had a guitar performance at the same time Caroline had her judo exam (yellow belt, brown slip) so Robbert and I split up and Timo, Toos and I rushed over to Barendrecht for his exam and he's got the orange belt and brown slip now.
Considering he is only been taking lessons for a month now, his performance went extremely well.

O and did I tell you btw, he wrote a song for Florien?
Hush!!!

Cambridge

2010-06-20T18:31:00.005+02:00

Click on the photo for the whole album.

Looks pretty daft doesn't it, but it takes me too long to get you the slide show i was thinking about. Slide show is dia voorstelling in dutch, so if you don't mind dyi, click on the photo to open the album and then click on dia voorstelling.

so what have we been doing these last days?

2010-06-14T17:56:00.005+02:00

Well...
with the upcoming Tour de France start in Rotterdam in a couple of weeks, there are lots of events.
The kids have tried their skills at all sorts of bikes (and yes Timo beat Morten at spinning) and this morning Caroline went to school with some soccer merchandise in her hair.
We beat the Danish this afternoon with 2-0 (first goal one of the danes made himself).

Back home after judo camp

2010-06-06T16:34:00.002+02:00

Caroline's feet.
They assured me they had taken a shower EVERY day (been gone since Friday night).
But Morten also said that over 2 nights he slept 9 hrs in total (which i am afraid is true). They have been playing volleybal in the sand, thrown ninja stars into a board, made a camp fire and watched Kung Fu Panda #1.
The quietness is gone. The kids are back home.

Caroline

2010-06-01T18:23:00.011+02:00

Moscow

2010-05-29T16:02:00.001+02:00

This is the cup (and the medal) Morten and his team brought home after their trip to Moscow. They became 2nd so I am wondering what the 1st place cup must have been like.
Tomorrow he is participating in the National Champion ship.
To be continued.

Rebuilding # 2

2010-05-27T19:50:00.002+02:00

This is what our kitchen looked like yesterday. Today the rest of the floor is gone too. We had macaroni from the microwave yesterday and pork from the bbq today. (not easy to keep a bbq going while it rains). Lamb kebab tomorrow. But then there's 3 more weeks.
Any ideas welcome!!

There is a good reason for a shower

2010-05-25T14:21:00.002+02:00

It's been warm these last days.
For once Caroline slept in (that is till 8) this morning and when i went into her room, she was hanging with her head (and witch hair) down on the stairs (she sleeps in a bunk bed). With a red swollen face she looked at me and declared she was hot and needed a shower coz she had a sweaty bum.

Judo tournament.

2010-05-23T18:42:00.005+02:00

Today was the last sunday (3rd in a row) of the so called ladder tournament. Depending on how much you weigh you are ranked and you win the tournament by rising as many steps of the ladder as possible.
Due to the may holiday last week a lot of kids didnt show up and immediately dropped a lot. Which meant that Caroline and her 27 kilo's was higher than the blue belt, 15 yr old boy she had to fight against as you see here under.
She gave him a very hard time (you should have seen her face when she realized she had to fight HIM) but alas.
In the very last seconds, he beat her.

As you can see on the score board he even got a chudo (a fault) for not moving enough/not participating in the action ;)

To Ally's mom

2010-05-20T20:46:00.003+02:00

Just so you know.
We gave Ally a photo book for her birthday with all sorts of photo's of her and us in it.
Something tells me she may not want you to see them all.

hahaha.

I am just saying.

Guitar hero

2010-05-20T20:36:00.003+02:00

Timo's trial guitar lesson was today.
He had been begging for it for weeks but there was just no guitar school that had room (honestly, never guessed it to be so popular).
So, this woman asked him.
What is it with you and guitars?

well, he said, listening to nice music and recognising the guitar in it, made me want to play it.
And i have been reading a lot of books about it.

Then she started talking about notes and rythms and the names of the strings and Timo nodded at whatever she said.
He is very motivated she said to me.

uhuh.

after half an hour she said, i have to talk to your mother about it now, that is if you want to come back next week.

Of course he did.
so.
a guitar (roughly 300 euro's she said)
a book (17 euro)
private lessons for 30 minutes (18 euro per lesson)
a foot bench (no idea)
a guitar bag (no idea)

at the dinner table afterwards he ate 1,5 giant schnitzel and then asked for another one.

The boy is eating me out of my house in every way he can.

to be continued i am afraid.

Hats

2010-05-15T16:52:00.003+02:00

Yes.

the boy is wearing a hat.

This morning we bought new shoes for PE and while at the store I noticed some hats. Most of you know Timo is still very much into Michael Jackson and he has been begging me for shiny socks, a hat and a shiny glove.
I have even been into a (so called) specialized dance shop but they didn't have any.

Any way. The hats.

Morten got his one, wore it to waterpolo this afternoon and is even reading on the couch with his hat on.

Timo got a black and white striped one.

Cool he said.
Now I even have a bigger chance with Florien.

On a sidenote; thursday is his first guitar lesson.
Some one told him, or he read somewhere, the first thing he would learn is in E minor.
Don't ask me, i don't play and don't read notes, but he thinks it's some sort of technique. In his words; I cannot wait to play E minor.

Cheese market

2010-05-14T13:34:00.011+02:00

OK, so most of you know that Meliss and Jess are back in the Netherlands (and where not) and today they had the cheese market in Alkmaar on their list. As I had never been there too, nor Ally or the kids we had a full ride to Alkmaar. Caroline lost her coat, Timo lost his voice and I my temper but in the end all was well.

Happy Birthday Ally!

2010-05-08T18:09:00.001+02:00

Ally & I did a chocolate bonbon workshop for her birthday today. We each brought home about 1 kilo of bonbons and truffels so if anyone wants to see me without pimples on my face, be quick.

Timo

2010-05-05T17:18:00.003+02:00

Adoption

2010-04-30T19:26:00.003+02:00

Our neighbors have adopted 2 Chinese girls. Their dutch names are Juul and Nanne. Juul is now 5 and came about 2 yrs ago and Nanne is 4 and they picked her up 2 months ago.
Especially during the summer (with our gardens attached to each other) Juul is over at our place a lot too and Caroline saw from nearby when Nanne arrived.
She asked me why people adopt.

There are a lot of reasons i said.
Maybe they think there are enough children already in the world and they want to make a child happy that is here but has no parents.
Or maybe they cannot make children themselves.

Don't you just think they find it too gross to make them she said?

Had to admit, didn't think about that one.

I proudly present one of the champs of waterpolo.....

2010-04-24T17:33:00.007+02:00

So after our bike ride, we rushed to Dordrecht where Morten had to play and then back to Rotterdam where his team was being honoured. I guess the photo's will speak for itself.

The Betuwse Blossom bike ride

2010-04-24T16:41:00.011+02:00

This morning we all packed up early and left for a 30 km (almost 19 mile) bike ride through 'the Betuwe' the area in mid Netherlands where our fruit comes from.
It was a beautiful day and i enjoyed the typical Dutch landscape immensely. So different from our daily city life.
Set the date for next year; April 23 and ride with us!

Opera days Rotterdam

2010-04-20T19:09:00.006+02:00

A couple of months ago I read about the Opera days in Rotterdam. About 10 days at the end of May, beginning of June where the theatres show all sorts of opera's, you can do an opera workshop, follow an online opera course AND *drum rolls*....
receive an opera singer at home for a house concert. If you click here you sort of get the feeling although it is in Dutch.

How cool is that!

of course I applied, but because i don't have a piano (nor exactly the room to hire and place one, i mean this is supposed to be 'just fun') i didn't think much of it.

I just got a call.
if i minded if i were to get some musical singers, coz they could bring along a tape and not need a piano.

Hell no!
although from opera to musical seem far stretched, but apparently the term opera stands for anything between Verdi and musical non western street theater.
Allright!

I am so excited.
I am going to invite all my friends and the whole neighborhood and Robbert will be making hors d'oevres and it will be sunny and we will be drinking chilled rosé wine.

Vette shit :P

2010-03-27T18:55:00.009+01:00

While Robbert got his phone stolen in Barcelona, Spain, the boys were at the water polo clubhouse for a night of pizza and movies and Caroline and I drank a cup of tea. This morning i got her all geared up for next week's hockey training, after that she got a High School Musical pyama, so needless to say, today was a good day for Caroline.

Puck, Sam & Tara just wanted to say hi

2010-03-27T09:26:00.001+01:00

The dentist

2010-03-25T08:49:00.001+01:00

This is what you get when we all have a dentist check up. Caroline is almost IN your mouth.

Just some things i wanted to share

2010-03-23T19:28:00.003+01:00

One of Morten's friends did a class presentation today.
Guess bout what
bear in mind we are talking Dutch 10 yr olds.

Barack Obama!

O yes.

Caroline has a confusing way of counting.
Just one more week before it is March 30th she said.
Yeah.... i said, wondering where this was leading.
And then just 2 more days before it's April.
Yeah...
and then just a couple more days before it's April 4 and 5: Easter!

Of course.

Timo had his first after school waveboard lesson today and showed me tonight he could get on the board and even ride for about 10 mtrs and make a turn.
Huge improvements which promise a lot for the 9 lessons ahead.
Morten, who has some mysterious (but none the less real) leg injury and walked like a drunken chicken these last days, said; pfff, i can get on the board too. Piece of cake.
O yeah, o yeah, Timo challenged him; go ahead then.

He fell.
Stood up immediately and said;
i am usually very good at it but thats because of my stiff leg now.

spring has sprung.
not making any promises about the weeks to come, coz it's true, rain is never far away, but with 16 C life is good.

we took the kitchen builder up on his offer so will basically have a huge mess in the house from end of May till half June.
Also the 6 people living in this house will all use Ally's small shower for about 2 weeks because the week after easter the bathroom gets done.
I foresee STRESS and chaos and for once am glad i have a job-less husband at home to organise things.

Breaking news

2010-03-18T19:55:00.002+01:00

Florien came by this afternoon and when Robbert opened the door, asked if Timo would come play outside.
Timo! Robbert shouted upstairs, someone at the door asking you to come play.
Nahh, Timo replied, i am watching tv.
It's Florien, Robbert shouted.

*flash* Timo almost jumps down the staircase.

They have been out all afternoon and when Robbert went to get him for dinner, Timo confessed that Florien had asked whether she could come play (inside) the coming days.

Oooohhhhh, love is in the air everywhere you look around!

Valentine follow up

2010-03-16T19:21:00.004+01:00

O yes, there is a follow up!
a couple of days after Timo had sent his card, i asked him whether Florien had given ANY sign of knowing it was him.
she hadnot. (which i knew coz i checked with her mom)

you know, she might think it's from someone else i said (again, from the mom). dont you think you ought to come out and let her know? now Marius (the suspect valentine) might take the credit.

Timo saw my point.
Damn that Marius. no way José he was going to let him get away with that!

So.
Timo wrote an entire letter in rhym!
Saying, she might wonder who the card was from.
well it wasn't from someone she expected.
and he hoped she would feel the same
coz he looked like a bloody fool otherwise.
but still,
even if he looked like a fool, he did it for her, so she could be proud.
and if she wanted to write her valentine back this is the address...
and then he revealed his name (stuck a piece of paper over it that she had to lift first)

Last but not least he made hearts out of all the dots on the i's.

it took him almost an hour coz he made spelling mistakes all the time and then had to do the whole thing over again.

it was an impressive letter to say the least.

you know Timo if i were to get such a letter, i said, i would be very flattered.
but maybe also a little scared coz i wouldnt know what to do.
Now it seems as if you are totally in love with this girl.
are you sure you want to give her that impression?
again Timo saw my point.
nahhh. i like her, but not that much he said and i just wanted to make sure Marius wasnt taking the credits.

maybe you just have a good night sleep over this and then see how you feel in the morning i said.
and so he did.
next morning at the breakfast table he declared he had given it a good thought and decided he would still write her that letter, but leave out the hearts.
Wise move i thought.
he re-wrote his letter and put it into her closet at school.

when i asked him later how things went, he told me that very day Florien had gotten a new desk, had swapped out all her stuff from the old one and never gave a hint she had even seen the envelope.

i asked the mom a couple of days later but according to her Florien hadnot received anything else.

Holy cow.
all this and then no effort at all?
and the rotten thing was; whenever we got mail, timo would rush up to the hall to 'just check if there was anything addressed to me'.

Last week though, her mother came up to me and whispered Florien had cleared up her stuff and found the letter. She was a bit overwhelmed by it (who wouldnt be to be honest) but did like it.

after a heartbreaking weekend again where timo sighed he didnt receive any letters i told him some girls are just a bit frightenend by expressions of love and they simply do not know how to respond.
but i told her, he said. i told her she could write me, with the address and everything in the letter.

I tried to tell him not everyone is as courageous as he is.
I told him i was 19 the first time i told a boy i actually liked him, so it might take florien another 10 yrs to pluck up the courage too.

In a couple of years when morten is 16, timo is 15 and their 13 yr old sister is making out with their friends i will probably talk otherwise, but for now i think this boy girl action they are growing into is too cute for words.

my manipulative 7 yr old

2010-03-16T19:02:00.006+01:00

The after school programs for the second period are almost done.
Caroline did cooking this time and mosaic.
This thursday she has some sort of an exhibition about the mosaic work and she asked me to come see it at 4.
i can't honey, i work at that time i told her, but daddy will be there.
while we were eating about 10,000 paaseitjes, she then spoke the unforgettable words:

so you think your job is more important than your child?

did i hear that correctly Ally asked.

Of course i do I said,
that's why you definitely slept for the last time in my bed last night when you had a nightmare.
and that's why i am never helping your brothers out again when they have a school presentation and i am about powerpointing and photoshopping and whatever for them.
And why are you going over to play at emma's tomorrow afternoon when i am at home then?
do you favour playing at emma's over your own flesh and blood?
o and something else.
my job paid for those clothes you are wearing and those paaseitjes (chocolate easter eggs) you are eating.

i think she finally got the point but hey, with these manipulative powers at the age of 7,i see a great future in PR, politics or soap scriptwriting within easy reach.

google streetview

2010-03-10T17:34:00.002+01:00

Drag the mouse and there is our house!

The naked dishwasher

2010-03-02T18:07:00.002+01:00

Dont ask, None of us have any idea why.

La cavia morte

2010-02-28T17:22:00.004+01:00

During last's weeks' schoolholiday, Timo watched way too many dvd's. And a lot of dvd's that are not really meant for his age. Nothing sexual but several stand up comedians for instance. And i dont know why homework doesnt stick in his mind after seeing it once, coz whatever he hears on these dvd's does.
There is this guy called Ronald Goedemondt who does a scene about how people stink in the morning (as la cavia morte/the dead guinnea pig).

Anyway, as some of you know we are getting a new bathroom this year and last Saturday we went to check out some wholesales stores for sinks, bathrooms, cranes, the lot.
Robbert and I were discussing the fact that he'd rather have two separate sinks in the bathroom for him and I then one bigger one.
Timo nodded understandingly and said:
La cavia morte.

Some of the highlights of the last 3 days.

2010-02-24T20:45:00.003+01:00

Caroline won at bowling
Sam told Caroline that when he is with the boys, he thinks she 's stupid, but when he is on his own he thinks she's nice.
Both Timo and Caroline are sleeping tonight at the mattresses that were there for their cousins. For some reason this is very exciting to them.
Sam didn't have one "accident" while with us. The moment his mum steps into our house, he pees in his pants.
The cats would rather go outside in the rain, than stay inside with a bunch of 7 crazy kids.
With 7 (crazy) kids, you have 3 dishwash loads a day and AT LEAST 1 wash load a day.
With 12 people at the dinner table this night, we ate about 3 kilo of chicken, 3 kilo of vegetables, 2 kilo of gratin potatoes and about a pound of potato croquettes.
We drank 2 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of juice and 2 cans of lemonade. For desert we had almost 2 liter of ice cream and about 6 apples.
With 10 people in the house you use about 1,5 toilet paper roll in a day and 2 bin bags full of rubbish.
And last but not least; Job read 54 comic books the last 3 days!

Full house

2010-02-23T20:22:00.002+01:00

This is what you get when cousins are over. We use about 1 rol of 'beschuit met muisjes' per breakfast.

Valentines day

2010-02-13T13:53:00.004+01:00

I think Valentines Day, overall, is not such a big deal as in the States. Sure teens send each other cards or give gifts but in the almost 20 yrs I know Robbert my total count is about 1 heart cushion and 2 cards. Maybe flowers.

Anyway, yesterday evening at the dinner table I said to the kids that if they wanted to give someone a card, they had to buy it today, coz sunday most of the shops here are closed. And the post for sure doesnt work.

Caroline blurted out she wanted to send Pieter a card. Now she knew he was already taken (by Olga, her 2nd best friend), but we all agreed that you can never be loved enough and that Pieter would be happy with his card.

Then we asked Morten whom he would like to send a card.
No one.
Ally suggested Claire (Claires mom also made an apple pie -like i did- for the class's christmas dinner and of course mine was way better).
No not Claire he said, coz Clair was dumb.
Good point Morten.
We then opted for several other class mates until Ally said he should go higher up and consider the 8 graders.
Hey, that's a good point. A whole new world to explore.
We suggested Charlie (yes a girl) but according to Morten Charlie was already taken by Sengim (the older brother of his best friends, the twim Cem & Emre). Ok, so Charlie was no go.
Pity, coz she lives just a couple of doors down the block so he could even drop the card at her place. AND Charlie is doing to the gymnasium, so Smart. But still, taken.
THEN.... Robbert suggested Paula (a girl they have judo with and who lives nearby so the Sunday morning Robbert picks her up and then Paula's mom brings the boys home again).
Morten flipped, in which we of course saw our proof of something being right.
He stomped Robbert in the back and kept on shouting Paula was not his girl.
Yah, ja.....something was happening for else he wouldnt react so fiercely.

We then went over to Timo and right away suggested Florien.
Florien is a tough girl, one of the boys basically and Timo could approve our suggestion.
Morten then opted for Lotte, who is very sportive (very good in gymnastics). The way he brought it though, was, that he said Lotte was so bendy.
Ally almost choked, thinking way to far ahead, coz all he meant, she was a sports girl and they could play monkey (whereup ally asked if thats what the kids called it these days, but that was just her dirty mind).
Anyway.

I just bought 2 cards. One for Pieter and one for Florien.
In Pieters one Caroline wrote "
Liefe Pieter,
Ik vind je leuk, maar dat weet je al.
Maar je bent niet op mij en dat vind ik niet leuk.
groetjes, Haas

Deer Pieter,
I like you but you know that already
But you are not into me and i dont like that
Greetings, Haas

In Florien one's Timo wrote:
Forien (i pushed in an L)
ik wil je graag zien
je bent een mooi en stoer meisje
en je staat bovenaan mijn lijstje

Florien,
i like to see you (in dutch it all rhymed)
you are a beautiful and cool girl
and on top of my list

Ofcourse everyone is sworn to secrecy by especially Timo, (Caroline just spills her heart out to anyone, so is less bothered) so thats why i am writing it here for the whole world to know. Hush!!

the 100 most dangerous errr. dangers

2010-02-03T18:59:00.006+01:00

I bought the kids some books today and gave Timo a book about the 100 most dangerous.... dangers.
At the dinnertable he told me he had come to page 58 and so far he thought a Firebal would be one of the most dangerous things. Luckily chances of that happening are equally small, but then he told me that the chances of it raining animals was bigger.
Sure I said (thinking he was thinking about the expression; it's raining cats & dogs).
Seriously, he said, when there is a tornado at sea, it sucks up the water with all the animals in it and then throws them miles away on the land.
O right, i said.
I thought you meant the expression.
Well Timo said, maybe thats literally possibly too. One day it WAS simply raining cats and dogs.
Sure Timo I said. And another day it is raining man.

Then Robbert starting singing : its raining men and Timo joined in witt Halleluja.
How come you now this song, Robbert said.
From Shrek.

Ok.
so after some debating about how fast you had to run to avoid lava coming down from the vulcano (general opionion was not even that fast) and whether it was better to run up a hill when the lave came (Timo's idea) or simply run away (Mortens idea) and how long it would take the lava to be cooled down so you could walk over it because by that time you could be starved to death sitting on top of your hill (again, morten defending his idea) and then Caroline asking everyone whether we could change the subject, 'coz these talks always make me feel bad" ,
they took a bath and this is how they came out.

Caroline with her huge teeth gap:

Morten with his hair brushed backwards:
And then his usual way of wearing it (he wants to grow his hair!):

And then the 2 of them helping Timo out with deciding what style to be photographed in:

And finally Timo with some sort of a mohawk:

2010-02-02T19:49:00.003+01:00

view from our backyard on the full moon.

after the relative stable weather (cold and snow) we now have rain and hail showers.
Lovely.

This past weekend we had a waterpolo match (Saturday) and a judo match (Sunday) for both boys. The judo took place in Groesbeek of all places, which is practically in Germany (i kid you not). The quickest way to get there was even with taking a route through Germany. Coz we were running late i told the boys i would drop them off in front of the entrance and then they had to go the weighing room while i parked the car.
Timo stumbled; but I can't ask where the weighing is in German.
quite relieved when he learned that by now we were in the Netherlands again.
It didn't help him much though; he lost all his matches.
Morten on the other hand, won all his and got the first prize in his poule.

Sitting on a bench and literally seeing your kid fight for what he is worth, is one of the hardest things to do.
I have to put a hand before my mouth or i will go and shout things like: KILL HIM MORTEN.
Also i try not to applaud and cheer too loud when he wins (there is also someone like my other son who looses).
Seriously, i can absolutely understand parents taking the law in to their own hands when their child is attacked. My mind tells me i shouldn't but no one better ever lay a finger on any of my kids, or i'll kill you.
And if I don't Robbert will.

Haha.
so. after having this removed from my chest, i leave you with Timo's adorable last words when we left the building;
I am glad at least Morten held the family name high today.

Honestly.
tears in my eyes.

Update

2010-01-30T12:57:00.002+01:00

I haven't been here for a while and one of the reasons was, everything around me seemed to fall apart.
It all started with the van. Last december Robbert & I had been on some rides with new vans coz we could see coming that he one we have had to go. Too old, getting unpredictable and very important; someone wanted to buy it.
BUT, it took us forever to decide which new car we wanted (van vs car, ford vs mercedes vs volkswagen, mini cooper vs porsche, my thoughts were going nowhere).
Then the van itself decided to give us some hints.
Keep in mind that as of half december we constantly have had snow and the average temperature this month has been below zero!! Besides that Robbert had to hand in his leased car, so we definitely needed this one.
First the gear box died.
600 euro (say 900 dollars) and the costs of a rental car.
then the dynamo died. another 600 euro the dealer garage estimated.
No way Jose.
we took it to another garage, but still 400 euro.

The paint of the kitchen drawers is coming down and 3 weeks ago i simply pulled of the front of one of the drawers completely.

Then my phone started acting up.
Weird messages keep popping up and blocking the screen saying i am running out of memory (huh?) and i need to clean the place up. When I try to, it blocks all together.

I hate, hate, hate having to spend time on these ridiculous things.

Sofar we've got the kitchen fairly covered. A guy came over twice, with a new design and a frightening estimate.
Keeping fingers crossed but chances are we've got a new kitchen (with a cooker and 5 pits!, new oven, dishwasher in another place, new fridge and freezer and simply new closests, drawers and sinks) early May.

I also order a new phone online that will hopefully be here in a couple of days and today I am hoping for an estimate on the Ford Transit..

All I need to sort out now, is getting new contacts (hate it that i have to make an appointment for that) and having my hair coloured again (which takes me about 2,5 hrs. As if I have the time).

Still things could be worse I guess.

thumbs up!

2010-01-11T20:39:00.004+01:00

Robbert has a blue belt in judo, knows jiu jitsu, did akido and boxing. Tonight at the dinner table Ally rightfully remarked he knows a whole lot of ways to hurt someone.

Of course then she challenged him by strangling him and he counterattacked by the sheer force of his thumb.

He also wanted to demonstrate he could do a counterattack with the force of his chin but that made her pee her pants so we left it at that.

2010-01-09T19:02:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago Morten & Timo were asked to do another judo training on sunday (1,5 hr running, 1 hr judo) to qualify for the regional team. Morten was selected (Timo is still doing the training with him) and today their team met some others in Den Haag.
He fougt 3 times and won 2 out of those. Both with ippon so the highest score possible. His whole team did very well and up till now are the team to beat.
So while outside an official weather alarm had been given (because of hard northeastern wind it felt like -15C outside), for the better part of the day we were in a sweaty dojo.

For those of you btw who are not following Rotteram daily photo; Caroline lost her 2nd front tooth over Christmas and is now having a huge gap in her mouth :)

2009-12-20T14:57:00.002+01:00

Yep, all Caroline wants for Christmas is at least one new front tooth!
And did I tell you it snowed a bit today? Seriously, it's been a long time since we had this amount. Check out my Rotterdam blog tomorrow if you want to see Ally bike in the snow.

Christmas dinner at school

2009-12-17T20:04:00.008+01:00

This year i only made 1 appletart and Ally did the muffins/cupcakes and the brownies.
The day already started with a bunch of hysterical kids coz it snowed last night and they went bersek throwing (and receiving!) balls.
Anyway, i guess the photo's speak for themselves.
Somehow i cannot get the 3 of them to look half decent at the same time and halfway there is one photo where Morten seems to be dying.
I swear he looked like that all the time or even had his eyes closed.
It's one more day of school and their 2 weeks holiday can begin.
I on the other hand are working up till the 25th!
someone's gotta have a J O B!

ps; notice Caroline's earrings. She's been going on about them as the highlight of her outfit for the last 24 hrs.
ps2. Timo said he danced to Billy Jean in the class. I asked what the other kids thought about that. He said they thought he was weird.
and no that didn't bother him much.

9 years ago

2009-12-08T18:21:00.002+01:00

this young man decided it was time to come out. Bottom first, but still time.
So far his birthday was 'not bad'
3 comic books, 1 pack of Wasabi nuts and a nintendo dsi.
1 baseball cap from Ally and duck breast for dinner.
He is of to waterpolo now where he will hand out little bars of snickers and mars.
'Not bad".

Book presentation

2009-12-02T08:55:00.002+01:00

Timo has a book presentation to do tomorrow.
His first.
He's a tad nervous and been practising with Robbert.
Yesterday he told Robbert the highest score sofar was an 8- (slightly under an 8 on a scale of 10) And of course his aim was to get a higher score.

Robbert said they would practice till he made Obama look pale.

and if not, you simply sound like Bush Ally said.

A hard life

2009-11-29T11:27:00.000+01:00

If you wonder what my children are doing here;

2009-11-23T18:04:00.002+01:00

they just put their shoes in front of the chimney and are singing Sinterklaas songs.
Seriously.

the other day

2009-11-21T17:59:00.000+01:00

when we came back from waterpolo, Timo said he didn't have the faintest idea about 'what to become'.
Oh, i said you have plenty of time.
Not only that, he said, but so many choices.

i can become a professional water polo-er.
a professional judo player.
a comedian
or a singer.

err. i said,
if you want to be a singer, you actually have to have a good voice.
and then you better start taking lessons.

he had a better idea.
morten is taking djembe lessons at the moment, and now he wanted to take guitar lessons so they could form a band and then, well yes, it was only common sense and logic he would become the lead singer.

I kept my mouth shut for a moment.
Morten did not

A comedian??? he said.
Yes Timo declared.

I am actually pretty funny.

Carolines dance performance

2009-11-18T15:02:00.006+01:00

2009-11-09T16:00:00.001+01:00

One of our weekends away with friends and kids. 9 grown-ups, 9 little ones. Beautiful autumn weather and lots of fun.

New heels

2009-10-25T13:37:00.001+01:00

No of course I cannot walk on them.
They are 14 cm's high!
But I just pose on them.
Or hang on Robberts arm when we go into a restaurant. Then quickly sit down and don't drink too much coz I can never make it to the toilet on my own.
But of course, all that is totally irrelevant.

Caroline turned 7

2009-10-18T12:03:00.011+02:00

Yesterday morning she came into our room saying she had slept like a dog and had the feeling today was a special day, only she couldn't remember why.

Sure honey.
Todays your birthday and I don't mind saying it to you a hundred times.

At 10 a bunch of girls arrived. She had invited 13, luckily 2 of them were unable to come and as it turned out one did't show up at all. With our 3 though, we still had 13 kids running around.
Luckily there was plenty of cake.

After an hour or so we went to de Ontdekhoek where they made soap, baked their own crisps, made a boat, a book, stamps, you name it.

Then Robbert took the boys to judo and now owes me BIG time for staying behind with 11 girls, taking them home (in the back of the van), making them pancakes and then receiving the parents who were picking them up.

Morten with one of the Halloween lampions the girls could take home with them:

And then....

it was time for the highlight of this day.

Ears getting pierced.

She was pretty nervous and wanted to make sure there would be no blood nor pain. We told her the blood was covered, but unfortunately there would be a little pain.

little in her eyes meant something else.

After her first ear was done, she cried and said this would be it.

it took the sales rep and me a little persuading and then she had her second ear done.
back in the car, after the first itching and glowing was over, she was on top of the world and said she had had the best present EVER.

Fire!

2009-10-16T16:17:00.000+02:00

This week the children have vacation and so Caroline had to give the treats at school a day earlier. Were it not for the fact that Friday her class had a Autumn-Do-Day where they would be wandering in the woods half of the day.
So Thursday morning this is what we made:

Then Friday afternoon the chimney sweepers finally came by, checked the whole thing, ran over some filter on the roof, but gave it their ok in the end and for the very first time we lit a fire!!!

The kids loved it. Timo ran up to me upstairs and urged me to come down with a book so we could cuddle up in front of the fire.

Seriously.
This is what it looked like.

Then they wanted cheese for desert and could they please please eat it in front of the fireplace.
Sam didn't mind joining in and warmed himself in front of the fire too.
The whole happy family:

one of those days again.

2009-10-03T19:36:00.003+02:00

We had to be in the middle of nowhere this morning at 8 am! for Morten and Timo had to judo in the same hall at 11.
Not for nothing though:
Morten became 3rd:

And Timo won his first cup ever and became 2nd!To celebrate we went to the Mc and then rushed home coz at 5 they had a waterpolo match.

Which they lost big time.

Plastic surgery II

2009-09-28T17:39:00.002+02:00

What is your problem he asked?
For real, thats what he said.

But it gets even worse.

Problem, problem I said while taking of my glasses.
I am thinking of having my upper eye lids done.

He stared at me and said.
I can understand that very well.

......
And see, I've got this little fat thingy on top om my eye here, so I was hoping you could get rid of that while you were there anyway.

Ooo, that's not all the fat we'll get rid of he said.
There is a lot of fat there that actually should be in your eye-socket.

That's it.
I mean fat hips ok.
Fat knees ok.
but fat eyes!

The date is set. October 8th I will cross my swords with this doctor and get this settled.

MonsterJam

2009-09-27T18:09:00.004+02:00

Ok guys.
What did I learn today?
For starters that you'd better plug in those ear plugs they provide for free the moment you sit down.
That Maximum Destruction is not Morten talking about what he's going to do to his sister but the name of a truck.
That a donut is not always eadible.
That freestyle motorcross is awesome.
That Timo can make a hell of a lot of noise.
That you'd better bring a lot of cash with you coz 1. the merchandise is not cheap and 2 there are no (that is ZERO) ATM's at the Gelredome.
That for once, the girls bathrooms were always empty, while the boys stood in line.
That MonsterJam was way more fun (and the boys had a fantastic day-although Morten is doing his utmost to not show that in the latest photo) than I feared.
O and that these are the only photo's I have, coz I wasn't allowed to bring my camera in for the show (too professional and who knows, I might make good photo's then and sell them myself?)

2009-09-19T08:34:00.003+02:00

Robbert, being unemployed at the moment, decided to take Timo to the Efteling yesterday.
He's complaining of sore stomach muscles this morning coz, to name one, they did the Python (a rollercoaster that isnt't named like that for nothing) NINE times.
In the evening we went out for dinner and Caroline wanted to know when it was her time to call in fake sick at school!

Btw, yes that is a hat she is wearing and she is combining it with a new pair of skinny jeans and a pyama jacket.
Any magazine out there interested in a 6 yr old intern for the styling department?

Cosmetic surgery

2009-09-17T19:17:00.003+02:00

Ok.
so Robbert and I had been thinking about doing a double surgeon exchange present for Christmas, last year, but somehow that didnt happen and i didn't think anything of it anymore.

That is until I saw the holiday photos.
Seriously, there is one where i look like I am well above 70
eyes wise that is.
Its taken 'en profile' and i just don't have an eye lid anymore.
I cant even explain it but believe me, it looks ridiculous.

So what does one do in times like these?
One goes to ones hairdresser.

Whatever you do, you do both upper and lower eyes she said.
Huh?
O yeah. Coz once you have done your upper eye lids, you only emphasize the wrinkles underneath.
Makes sense, but I didnt think i really needed that.
O and dahling she said.
stop right there, coz whenever i go there, i put on my turtle neck, lay my head on the counter so that is all they can see and then i ask for a little filler.
coz really i might go on for ever.
did you ever notice my tummy?
or did you know i have the perfect bra size. Only thing is, i roll 'm up and then put them in.
or that pleated skirt i have at the back of my upper legs.
or the chicken wings on my arms.
No girl, you just have to decide; till here and no further.

So I make an appointment at this clinic.
Robbert and I take an afternoon off and head over.
And you cant help but sort of scrutinize the people you meet there.
What on earth can she be here for?
Are they here for her or him?

Anyway, after 40 minutes waiting!! the doctors aid comes to pick up the list I had to fill in (medical history, expectations, that sort of thing).
she sort of goes over it, so when THE doctor finally comes in, i wont take up too much of his precious time with stupid questions she should have shielded from him.

The moment is there.
THE doctor comes in.
the doctor to be precize coz he's about 60 and i tower over him.
What would you like to know he asks.
what i can expect,how much it will hurt and till when i am good again i say.
so he asks me to step in front of the mirror and tells me where he's going to draw a line and what he will remove.
and yes, i will be locally sedated and no that wont hurt.
and i will be fine till i am about 60 again.
final question on my side; can you make sure i dont like a scary weazel 2 seconds before he's getting run over by a car and looks into its front lights?
yes says the doctor, coz that might only happen if you also do a brow lift.

ok set, I say and after i get another brochure, a recipe for painkillers and some eye drops we are off.

next week i am going for a second opinion to the surgeon my hairdressers been to.
see, with a husband who's just been laid off, every penny counts.
and as it happens, her guy is 500 euro cheaper.
to be continued!

2009-09-05T21:10:00.002+02:00

This sums it up. Add a couple of hours in the morning for when the boys had their judo tournament, add a couple of hours afterwards for when we had pizza at the pool, but yeah, we pretty much saw the boys loose 9 matches all together and Caroline turn ill.

So looking forward to tomorrow.

Oysters

2009-08-29T21:44:00.004+02:00

True, they sometimes drive me crazy, but you can't say my children are choosing the easy way out when eating is considered.
Timo spit out his, Caroline asked for a sip of water afterwards and the last photo is of the whole bunch ordering a second one for Morten!

This is what you get when your kids have green fingers

2009-08-26T15:48:00.005+02:00

Timo's sunflower

And Mortens monstreous zucchini, together with a baby one, 5 kilo of greenbeans, 3 onions and some red peppers.

As it so happens I am out to dinner tonight.

Wonder what Robbert will do with all this.