Thursday, May 31, 2007

Love is...

Love is having good friends who come over to hang out and in the process help me clean my house. Which is dire need of cleaning. Last week, my friend cleaned my kitchen. Today, she helped me dealing with some living room clutter. Cleaning up is way more fun when other people are around, doing it by myself just isn't the same.

Today's visit inspired me enough to get rid of some other junk and broken things, resulting in a visit to the dump with 5 or 6 trash bags, and a LOT of cardboard recycling. I wonder whether our cardboard boxes have wild orgies when we aren't watching, they always seem to grow new ones.

Or maybe it's because of being married to a person, who seems physically unable to deal with any boxes when they are empty, but instead carefully closes them and puts them in the basement. Yes, with the packing peanuts still inside.



Love also is by the same friends, who took my three little ones for the weekend so that I could attend my go workshop all my myself. It was a very needed break. I am blessed to have good friends like this.

Happy Love Thursday! May your life be filled with love and friends.

Camping

When you really want to go camping, but can't convince your mom, what do you do?



You pitch a tent in the backyard and sleep in there. The next morning, you complain about the darned birds who wake up way early and are way loud ^^

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Holes, Holes, Holes.

My kids like to dig. This means that our lawn has holes 'everywhere'. Holes appear and disappear. Rocks get dug up and moved. Interesting pieces of wood get discovered under ground.



This hole has been in my front yard on and off. First time, it appeared was a few years ago. Jane started it. 'I am making a bath tub'. A visitor dryly commented 'A bit public location, but it has a great view.'

This spring, the little ones revived the hole. They have been having a lot of fun filling it with water and getting muddy. Visiting friends get sucked into the excitement.



Tara and Jane have taken the holes thing to a new level though. If I was organized, I would show pictures, but since I am not, you'll just have to do with the description. They have been digging a huge hole in our backyard. I got informed it was going to be a duck pond. Followed by Tara's request 'Mom? Can I get a duck for my birthday?' Um... No.



They decided to make it a lair instead and told me they needed a bag of cement to make that happen. Yet again, I had to be the mean parent by veto-ing their wonderful plans. I told them that I thought this might be a bit beyond their constructive talents, and that I did not really want a block of cement in the backyard when I ever wanted to sell the house. They thought I was just a spoilsport. Cees worried about 'You cannot sell the house! I grew up here!'

They are back to making it a fish and plants pond, which I might let them do, just because I do like ponds and our other pond has worked out very well. I would like to use another method than the black plastic we used for that one though, although I haven't figured out what would work instead and would still be affordable.

And yes, I do realize that most Americans rather have a spotless lawn instead of once covered in dandelions and muddy holes. I still like ours better ^^

Friday, May 25, 2007

Fun in the Park

Our homeschool group had a fun meeting at the park.



Three legged race.



Swinging, swinging, swinging.



Teaching Sylvia new games.



Lots of running around.



And even a piggyback race.



It was beautiful weather too, I love spring in New England, once the snow storms finally stop.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Love is...

Remembering my father, who passed away a few years ago. I still miss him every day.



When I grew up, we lived in a suburban townhouse, with a nice garden in the back. My father loved to work in the garden, and spent a lot of time deciding on what to grow. One of his favorite plants was a bleeding heart plant, which is called 'broken heart' in dutch.



I have fond memories of me as a little girl, being in our yard, him pointing out the flowers of this plant 'Look, they have the shape of a heart, but the heart is broken, and a tear drop is falling out.'



I have planted my own bleeding heart plant in our yard, in memory of my father. It is blooming now, and I smile every time I see it, remember all the good things about him.

Happy Love Thursday, please send love to all around you.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Peer Pressure

Today, I was showing Cees some pressure points, when Kate came over. She looked at what we were doing and asked 'Mom? Are you showing Cees about peer pressure?'



It took me a few seconds to figure out that she must mean pressure points.

It Stopped Raining!

After a bunch of gloomy and rainy days, spring finally is back.



Dandelions everywhere.



Kids spending lots of time outside.



Yes, spring is my favorite season.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Quote of the Day

Sylvia still is feeling a bit under the weather with her cold. This morning, she was sitting on my lap, snuggling, and I said 'Aw... Poor little one.' She coughed a few times, and declared in a small, but decisive voice 'Chocolate would make me feel better!'



My kind of girl ^^

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Drawing

Sylvia really has discovered the joys of drawing. She can sit for quite some time and patiently draw all kinds of pictures.



I love watching her when she does this. She is so proud of all the drawings that she makes.

And I just remembered it is my turn to post at Larger Families today, check there later for Mothers Day post.

Friday, May 18, 2007

She is Feeling Better

Which wouldn't be too bad, if she hadn't slept half of the day. So now was awake half of the night...



Earlier at night, she had siblings to entertain her.



But after 1am, her siblings fell asleep and it was only Sylvia left to entertain herself and us...



Now it is 2:30am and she FINALLY is down for the night.

Kate walked to the ice cream store today, so I guess her foot is doing better too.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Love is ...

Love is 'meeting' your uncle via skype for the very first time this week.



Sylvia has been enjoying hearing about uncle Ang and seeing pictures of him. She always declares 'Him is MY Li Ang'. She also has told me that she is going to play go with him, and she will let him win. She is nice like that ^^ After hearing all the stories and seeing his pictures, she was very happy to finally see him 'real life'.



Ang on the other hand got treated to a beautiful Sylvia temper tantrum, not sure whether that was the best introduction to her. 'This is MY li ang!' and MY spot! you cannot sit on MY spot! You cannot talk to MY li ang!' I guess it's easy to tell that she still is two years old :)

Kate was a bit confused about time zones 'I thought he was going to bed!' 'maybe he moved the computer to his bed???' I guess she wasn't considering the fact that this was via webcam , so we would have seen him in his bed on the screen if he had moved there.

I love modern technology, how we can speak to family and friends at the other side of the earth from the comfort of our own home, including seeing them. Quite a contrast to the 'twice-yearly letter' from one hundred years ago.

May your life be filled with love as ours is. Remember to say hi to a loved one via skype if you can do so. Happy Love Thursday!

Poor Little One...

Sylvia is not feeling well today, she has a cold and developed a fever.



Of course this has to happen on the day that we have three dentist appointments for the kids. Bad timing.

Kate hurt her foot while hiking a few days ago, and has been complaining about it a lot. Yesterday she decided to use crutches.



Today, she seems to do better, but it's still tender.

And I have ten baskets of clean laundry to fold, five urgent phone calls to make, and seven bills to pay yesterday. So instead, I sit at the computer and drink tea. That's important too, right? We will miss go club today, Kate is soooooooo totally not amused and has told me 86 times 'I really want to go to go club!!!' Yes, dear, me too. 'But I REALLY WANT to go!!!' Over and over and over...

Sylvia is asleep now, I hope she'll feel better when she wakes up.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

New Shoes

The joys of getting new shoes.



Dora shoes!



She was very determined which shoes she did and did not like at the shoe store. It sure was easier to shop with her when she didn't have her own opinion about things yet :)



Today is rainy, so a good day to stay home, study go, and bake bread. Today is aikido training too, the longer I do it, the more I am looking forward to the training sessions. Even if I occasionally break my leg or end up with a black eye ^^

Monday, May 14, 2007

First Farmers Market

Spring is officially here!



Our first farmers market of the season.



We ate ice cream.





Met friends.



Ate all kinds of baked goodies.



Bought flowers and signed up for our wonderful CSA (Customer Supported Agriculture). This means we will get a weekly box of fresh, organic vegetables delivered to our house all summer. I can't wait!



Only one missing was Cees, because he had to work at McDonalds :(

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Love is ...



Carrying around your little sister and telling her to point at mama and go 'Bwahahahaha!'



Happy Love Thursday!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Playground Fun in Pictures

On Monday, we decided to have a picnic at the playground. First we needed to go shopping for some goodies.



Then it was time to have fun!



Sliding,





climbing,





swinging,





and Kate upside down :p



A fun day!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Sylvia Goes Fishing.

Today, my sisters took Sylvia fishing.



She had a wonderful time.



She even caught a fish!



She made boats out of leaves.



She had fun climbing.



Here's some of the fish they saw.



This is the pond where they were fishing, it's so beautiful.



Two and a half years ago, we hid a cache at this pond, but Sylvia was too little to remember any of it. Here are some more pictures of the pond.

She had a wonderful day, but also was very very excited to be home.
'Kate, I am home!'
'Erik, I am home!'
'Tara!!! I am home!!'
'JANE! I am HOME!'
'CEEEEES!!! I am home!'
'TIM! I AM HOME!!!!'

I think she really enjoyed having been on an outing 'all by herself' and being able to announce her homecoming, and bask in the admiration of her siblings :)

And just for a blast from the past, this is 2.5 years ago, at the same location: