Caching

Recent caching pictures. A beautiful spot to hide a cache.













A little paradise, so close to the highway.

Winter!

First real snow of this winter, very late in December. Not a big storm, but at least some more significant accumulation than the earlier ones.

First thing in the morning, two little ones, ready go out:



Cees was thrilled to find out he could help shovel before going off to his McDonalds job.



Kate and Sylvia had fun playing in the snow.



When Erik got up, he decided to first spend time on the heater vent before finally heading out too. There is something nice about the heater vent when it's a cold and dreary day.



Tara went sledding



But one time, the sled went faster than she did ^^



I loved the colors of the evergreen trees in the afternoon sunlight





Winter is here to stay!

Love is ...

Having lots of fun with your friends:









Happy Love Thurday for friends love.

Quote of the Day

Kate:

'Dah dah dahdah!
There comes the bride, all dressed in purple.'

I guess you have to adjust the music if you don't have a white gown for your playmobil princess ^^

Quote of the Day

Sylvia: 'Mama! Pull up my pants for me!'

Quote of the Day

Kate: 'Pretend, that he was thrown in the dungeon for breaking down the drawbridge. But they let him live. '
She is so merciful.



Erik 'Get me the cannon balls!'
'We don't have a cannon ball person. '

Yes, the kids are having fun playing with their christmas presents.

Note of the Day

We live in a small neighborhood with a church nearby. Last week, we got a letter from the church, telling us that they wanted to do something neighborly, and were going to bring hot chocolate to the houses in the neighborhood. Very nice of them, and very exciting for my kids. The letter mentioned 'We will have enough for your children, if you have any'. Some of my kids, being the worriers they are, started wondering what would happen if they found out that we had seven kids. Would they still have enough? I told them it was fine, the neighborhood kids population just averages out, some have no kids, some have seven.

Before they showed up, still found this note on my front door:



Some close ups:







Jane wanted to make sure that there would be enough hot chocholate for everyone ^^. That night, they showed up, and everything worked out just fine. I wasn't home (aikido) but hubby and the kids all got a nice cup of chocolate milk AND marshmallows.

Lovely initiative from the church.

Solstice Pictures

We have always enjoyed celebrating the solstice. The days are so short right now, that it comes as a relief that they finally will start getting longer again.



Our celebration always include a fire, and of course, lots of fun food.





No solstice would be complete without marshmallows and s'mores.





We baked potatoes in the fire, but will skip pictures of that, they are not terribly exciting.





A good time was had by all, and from now on every single day will be a few minutes longer.







Sparklers are such fun!

Basement Bliss

See what showed up in our basement!







Since we can't use our outdoors hammock in the winter, figured some indoor ones would be nice ^^

Isn't It a Beauty????

Showing off my new stove. When we moved into our house, eight years ago, the old one was old already. It was still mostly working fine though, so no reason to replace it with something more modern. Over the years, more and more things stopped working. First the clock, then the timer. Later burner after burner bit the dust. But the final blow was the oven. I mean, I could live with two working burners. But not without an oven.

So I got myself (and seven kids) to Sears and got this beauty:



I love the flat top. So much easier to clean. One ofthe first things we made on it, were pancakes:



Here the kids are enjoying the pancakes and you can see freshly baked bread. It is soooooooooooo nice to be able to bake again. Supermarket bread just isn't the same.



It even has a working oven light AND a window that's not totally clogged up with grease yet. Amazing.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Too late to write a long post, so just sharing some pictures.

















So how are YOUR christmas preparations coming along?

Are You Enjoying Your McDonalds Experience?

Last weekend, we decided to visit Cees at his place of employment.



Everyone was uber excited to see him.



We took delight in eating the wonderful food.







It was a pleasure to have someone there to check on us and make sure we were enjoying our McDonalds experience.



We sure were!

Love is...

Snuggling up with your favorite auntie.



Happy Love Thursday!

More Aikido

Last night, went to the dojo again to train. Before I went, I was talking on the phone to my mom.
Mom: 'How's your leg?'
Me: 'It's fine, I can walk.'
Mom: 'Are you sure?'
Me: 'Oh yeah, I have even started training again.'
Mom: 'WHAT??????????!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so bad! You should not do that!'
Me, playing my trump: 'The doctor said I could!', conveniently not mentioning that the doctor just recognized the futility of forbidding me to do so.
Mom: 'Well, I think it's a very bad idea. I mean, I don't think you should stop training. Just skip it for another few months or so...', implying that maybe then I would forget about all that martial arts nonsense.
Me: 'It's ok, the leg is fine.'
Mom: 'Well, I still think it is a horrible idea.'

Time to distract her with some other subject, successfully so :)

Being on the mat felt soooooooooooo good! My leg was a bit sore but not too bad. And frankly, I don't care, I desperately needed the grounding which I can find in aikido. The weird thing was that the leg was mostly fine during the training, but I stepped out of the dojo and suddenly it started hurting pretty badly. I guess I was so focused on other things that the leg wasn't a big deal. Walking out, it suddenly became a lot more noticeable. Interesting. Decided to skip my planned grocery shopping after class, and did go problems instead ^^

I have decided, if the leg still wants me to take it easy, I'll take it easy at home. Just so I can train harder in class.

Today, the carpenters came and stripped the whole front of the garage. There were some construction problems and water had been rotting a lot of the wood. They got it all fixed up and will put siding up tomorrow. The garage will look awesome when that is done! It has been looking pretty bad for quite a while now.

Quote of the Day

Overheard when Sylvia is playing with some lego people.
'Can I pee in my pants?'
'NO!!! Those are not your pants!'

When I am a grownup...

Kate this morning: 'When I am a grownup, I am going to have seven kids. I hope I will get three boys, and four girls. I will name them Cees, Tim, Tara, Jane, Kate, Erik, and Sylvia. No! I am going to have nine kids, and hope it will be four boys and five girls. Then I will name the last two after you and daddy.'
Me: 'Wouldn't it be confusing to have two Kates in the house?'
Kate: 'I'll just call her Katie.'
OK :)



Spent the morning at the dentist with Kate, finally the last one of our two hundred dentist visits for this year. Sylvia insisted on going with us. 'You are going to the dentist? Can I come????' This was yesterday, I told her she could come if she woke up in time. I would leave her home if she was still asleep.

This morning she woke up, all happily. 'Now I can come to the dentist with Kate!'

Now time to do some go studying, and maybe should find myself some breakfast ^^

Back on the Mat!

Tonight, I finally was back on the mat! Exactly six weeks after I broke my leg. My ankle got a bit sore, but I was mostly fine. Had to skip a few parts of the class, but I didn't care. So good to be back!

Now just need to finish up the healing, and I'll be back to normal. Or whatever counts for normal in my universe.

When I saw the doctor today, he looked at me, my lack of crutches, and asked 'I don't think you want me to write you a prescription for physical therapy, do you?' That was after I had asked him whether I could start aikido again ^^. I smiled and said 'No, thank you, I'll be fine.'

Say Goodbye to the Splint!

I saw the doctor today and my ankle is healing very well. I have official permission to ditch the splint and just resume my normal activities (yes, this does include aiki budoin ^^) The foot is still swollen a bit, and I have to take it easy, but hey! I'll take it.



Tonight, I'll be back on the mat!

Sweet Little Package

Last week, I received a surprise gift in the mail from Adagio Teas. Beautiful blooming tea, the kind you put in your pot and it will unfold and blossom into a jasmine flower. I love watching it unfold. It is good tea too, I have really been enjoying using it and sharing them with friends.



Naturally, this must give you some idea of how much money I must have spent on tea over the last years ^^. I have been giving Adagio's Ingeniutea teapot to quite a lot of friends, it is such a fun and useful gadget.

One afternoon, a good friend was over, and we made the tea, staring at the unfolding process. We sat together on the couch and ate freshly baked bread, sipping the beautiful jasmine tea. Life is good!

No More Nakedness!

Happy to announce that the days of naked serving are over:



Well, apart from the fact that we need a little more fabric to cover more of him. But hey, it's a start, right? Tara put this together for our dear friend Roomba. Maybe we can call it a loin cloth for now.

All I want for Christmas...

... are my two front teeth



Yes, Erik lost another tooth! Very exciting :) I immediately wanted to make a pic, but had to explain that we didn't really need to see what he had for breakfast ^^



They are growing up so fast!

Love is...

An early morning game of cards with your little sister.



In case you wonder about the fork... This was a game over breakfast :)

I really like the way the light plays in this pictures and the snow outside. Happy Love Thursday!

Toddlers and Markers

Now I remember why I used to keep them separated...

Next time... Take II

Sylvia 'I am not a mommy!'
Me 'When you are grownup, you can be a mommy!'
Sylvia 'Yes, I am going to be a mommy. And next time, YOU can be a baby!'

Go tournament

Yesterday, I spent the day driving 180 miles to play in a go tournament. Gotta love living in the middle of nowhere. I had a great day, and I got to drive Sander's new car (we went from a 1993 one to a 2005 one). Wow, weird to drive a car instead of a van, but the gas mileage sure was nice.

The tournament not only was a fun day of go, but it also was a wonderful way of getting together with old and new go friends. The go scene in New England isn't very big, so you tend to see the same people over and over, and will really get to know them. This tournament had twenty players, which is pretty average for one of our tournaments. I won one game, and lost two, but felt good about all of my games. Those are good games to review and improve myself.

Today is a quiet day to hang out at home and get go studying cleaning done. I might go outside and do some aikido first, the sun looks so good. I will ignore the fact that it is cold, I need some outside air.

Family Night

Once a month, we have our Family Night, a night full of games (card games / board games), trash talk, love, and junk food. It is a fun way to get together as a family, instead of all doing our own stuff. It is not always easy with bouncy babies or toddlers, but I feel it is a positive experience for all.



Last Saturday, we played Killer Bunnies. Yes, I know. Normal families would play monopoly, but we end up with weird games like Killer Bunnies or Munchkins. I have been looking around for other family night games, so would be in for suggestions if anyone has good ones. It has to work for the range from toddler to teenager. We have gone through quite a lot of games over the years, but would welcome more suggestions.

May your family be full of love as ours. Happy Love Thursday!

Sinterklaas in Pictures

Last night, we celebrated the Dutch holiday of Sinterklaas. The door bell rang, and to our utter surprise and delight, there were lots of presents!



Sylvia got to open the very first present:



We had run out of wrapping paper, so some packages were wrapped very nicely and creatively.



Jane was very happy with her new notebook:



A good time was had by all, everyone got something they really wanted.



Of course, the kids ended up going to bed way way later than normal, but they were having so much fun with their new toys and games.

One December holiday out of the way! I felt very organized this year, we had everything bought and wrapped so early! I might turn into an organized person still ^^

Next Time...

This morning, at the breakfast table, Sylvia announced: 'Next time, I am going to be a squirrel!'



Does this tell me that we pamper our squirrels too much? I just filled the squirrel bird feeder with sunflower seeds yet again.



Yes, this is what we often see out of our kitchen window...

Weird Things

Finally a meme. I have been tagged once before, but life was too overwhelming back then, so I never followed up. Rebecca tagged me to share six weird things about myself. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Six normal things would have been a way bigger challenge ^^

1. My biggest current weirdness must be go. Come on, how many housewives do you know who are totally and majorly obsessed with a silly board game like go?
2. I hate talking on the phone, or actually calling places. I am okay with talking to friends, but have a major case of phone phobia for other phone calls.
3. In the same line, I don't own a cell phone and am not planning on getting one either. If I am away from my home phone, I will be very happy to be unreachable, thank you.
4. I prefer being barefoot, will go barefoot whenever I can get away with it. My summer concession to society is flipflops, but I only wear them when I really have to. Most of my neighborhood walks are done barefoot. Heck, I have hiked 8 miles through the Catskill Mountains on my bare feet and was fine.
5. I only drink tea and water, mostly tea. No soda, no coffee, no alcohol. At least, not more than once or twice a year. Because of not drinking much coffee, one cup has a major effect on me and I will go hyper for hours. Same for wine, one glass can get me close to drunk.
6. I always stay up way too late, just because I enjoy the peace and quiet in the house when all the kids are asleep. And yes, that might be the reason why this post is written close to 3am ^^And once I go to bed, I cannot fall asleep unless I am reading a book. Even just one page will often put me to sleep, but it's a lot harder without reading.

Now whom to tag? I choose

• kmom of more than ten, who has been way too quiet lately
• mabear for the same reason.
• Wendy, because I always enjoy reading about Dillon.
• Jody because she is the only other one ever to have tagged me, even if I never actually made that post ^^, and
• Annelies, so we can spread this meme to the Netherlands.

Sinterklaas Kapoentje

It is that time of the year again. We celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5th, and the kids will put out their shoes on the nights leading up to that (starting at Dec 1st)



After putting out the shoes, we sing a bunch of Sinterklaas songs, to make sure he won't miss our house. Sylvia has been funny about it 'You sing for me, mama!' Tonight she finally was willing to say Sinterklaas Kapoentje ^^

In the morning, they find some candy in their shoes. Sylvia has been utterly delighted by that. Usually asks me a few hours later 'Can I have some more candy in my shoe???'

Would You Like Fries With That?

Yes, it's official, Cees is a McDonalds employee.



The first weekend, he had to sit and do a computer led instruction video, which according to him was 'very slow and very boring'. He complained that there was no way to make it go faster. Guess he isn't very good at hacking computers yet.

Two weeks ago, were his first real working days. He started off well, by throwing up when he was at home, but still going to work. After an hour, he called us that he had gotten sick and needed to be picked up. When at home, he shared the information that he had thrown up already earlier that day (he hadn't quite told us about it before that, I guess he did not want to have to cancel his first real working day)

That Sunday went better, he worked for three hours. His description when he came home 'It was fun for the first half hour, but after that, it was really boring!' Welcome to the world of McDonalds ^^



Last weekend he worked for three hours on Saturday, doing the register and got really tired of the standing around. On Sunday, he worked for 4.5 hours. Those hours do not entitle him to a break, you can't take a break unless you work for at least five hours...



When he came home, he was happy to sit down and read the newspaper. Only things missing here, are the bunny slippers and the pipe.

Reading the employee manual has been enlightening. He is not allowed to grow a beard, or climb on the roof. He can't prepare fries, but is allowed to bag them. He can not come into work when he is wrinkled and sloppy, he needs to have good personal hygiene every day. (Especially that last one was hilarious to me, since he is the kid we have to threaten with cruel and unusual punishment to get him to take a shower)

He is allowed to get discounted (50 % off) food during his break, or within half an hour before or after his shift. He will have to eat it in plain sight in the restaurant though, god forbid he would share some discounted fries with a friend!

He has been asking me what I made when I was still working and calculated that I made 25 times as much per hour as he is making now. Such is the power of a college education, kid ^^

Big Mile Stone for Erik!

Happy to announce that Erik lost his very first tooth!



He is proudly showing off the new gap in his mouth. He has been carrying around his tooth, and talking about it for quite a while. I hope it won't be lost by the time he wants to put it under his pillow.

Quote of the Day

Tara made bunny ears behind Kate's head while she was eating, which caused a LOUD screaming 'MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tara is making bunny ears on me!!!!'
I was sitting on the couch, putting up my stupid leg, reading a go book and absentmindedly replied: 'Kate, Tara is your lesson in this life about not caring what other people do.'
Kate angrily replied 'OH YEAH????? What about YOU not caring what other people do??? What about if a robber came and took out everything in our house, would you care?'
I got a fast 'Not really' in, which she countered with 'Ha!!! He also took ALL your clothes, and now you will have to wear only a lion cloth! How would you like that?'



At that point, hubby replied from the other room 'Oh, I would love to see mama in just a lion cloth!' Kate made things even more severe by now telling me that the robber also took the lion clothes and I would have to wear GRASS now! 'Heck, the robber is taking all the grass!!!'

By that time, she had forgotten all about the bunny ears. I consider this a successful exchange :)

Quote of the Day

Sylvia: 'KATE!!!!!!!! Stop peeing in my bath room!!!!'

When that didn't have the desired effect: 'Mama!!! Kate won't stop peeing in MY bath room!'

One of Those Days...

I never did anything uninterrupted for more than 3 seconds, which it totally driving me crazy. I need some grounding very badly, but I barely have time to sit down and just breathe.

Rain, rain, rain, very gloomy weather. It affects the kids, and it affects me. It is barely past 4pm and dark already, I am sooooooooooo not a fan of short days and long nights.

Jane's hibernation project has been delayed till after Sinterklaas, which is December 5th. I guess she didn't think it was worth it to hibernate for only a few days. After Sinterklaas she can hibernate for at least two weeks till it is Christmas.

News on the career front: after Cees's successful first days as McDonalds employee, Tara just told me that she is thinking of becoming a hair dresser. I KNEW I should have hid the scissors more carefully when she was a toddler ^^