Christmas 2009

First christmas day was spent with Lisette's parents and Lisette's brother with his wife and kids. There were small presents under our tree and Nils and Wende were a bit disappointed after what they went through with Sinterklaas. But nevertheless they happily opened up their presents. Nils had a nice calender with pictures of steam engines on it and Wende had a playmobil puppet and stickers. The stickers were used within 10 minutes and Nils loved the steam engine pictures. At the grandparents in De Lier we had a nice gourmet dinner and the next day we went to see the grandparents in Hulst. There we met with Maaike and Jaap and Guusje and Maartje. Wende played with Guusje and Nils had a ball with Maartje.. I went shopping with my dad and we bought things for the evening dinner although eating is still difficult for my mom. Nevertheless we had a great evening together and the kids also received presents from Henny our aunt.. as usual, we were sorry she could not be with us that day but hope to see her again soon. Third christmas day we went back tp De lier againg to celebrate Lisette's mother's birthday. So we had a busy weekend again...

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Even more snow!

Last wednesday we had a christmas celebration at Nils's school. He was all excited about it and he was allowed to lite up a candle during it. Cramped in the small classroom we watched and listened. Lots of biblical things like church songs but we don't mind, better to have them growing up in a small town then in the big city..

Yesterday we saw a coach and horses in the street. Lisette remembered that they were going to perform a opening ceremony for our renewed street. remember the extension we had build one year ago? And at the same time the council decided to renew our street, so we ended up in one big building pit. Today the council officially opened our renewed street, something that wasn't done since the street was layed out in 1949. Nils and Wende were allowed (together with other kids in the street) to ride the coach and they loved. Whe they came back they were all given presents by the Santa Claus that was there as well.

Today (sunday) we were woken up bu the kids (as usual) but then we looked out of the window and saw itwas snowing again and by the looks if it, it had been snowing for quite a while too! It didn't stop until about 1 o'clock in the afrternoon but that was just a short break for after an hour it started to snow again.. I guess we did not have so much snow in 10 years or so. (maybe even longer) So we went out in our snowgear after we brushed the dust off it colected after all this snowless time and took the led and went for it. We went to the park were we slid down a hill onto the ice. Wende loves the thrill of sliding down the slope. A real daredevil (until she falls and ends up with a face full of snow..)

Wintertime in Andel, the snow arrived!

The great tree and one first tooth

Ingmar was a bit off lately, a cold and ... the first tooth! You can see he's not looking very happy but that's just now and then. He knows that there is something odd going on in hos mouth as he is constantly feeling with his tongue. We are preparing ourself now for the inevitable "acid" dipers.



We finally are not limited when having to choose a christmas tree, well the height is the only limiting factor.. So we bought a big one and Nils and Wende, under supervision of Lisette, decorated it with all the decoration we could find in the attick. And the tree is not the only thing green as we lit the tree up with LED christmas lights..

We survived Sinterklaas 2009!

It seems that every year the Sinterklaas celebration gets more and more sort of survival weekend. But hey, we made it through! The kids were bouncing from excitement the last week and they received lots of presents. Too bad Grandma did not feel well enough to be part of the Sinterklaas celebration this year but we understand especially after what she has been through the last couple of weeks. So first we went to De Lier to celebrate Sinterklaas with Lisette's parents and brother. Sinterklaas left 3 bags filled with presents and a tradional bang on the door. Grandma had made a nice lunch for us and we stayed for dinner as well. Sunday was spent at our own place with Maaike and jaap and their kids joining us in the afternoon for a Sinterklaas celebration. Neighbour Joost assisted with the door banging and he even threw a hadfull of pepernoten throught he room. Grandma watched the whole thing through the webcam we have set up with sound. Grandma was therefor able to hear the inflatable fart pillows the kids received from the Sint. She can even steer the camera and logs in any time she wants (as long as it's switched on that is..) Although she could not see the actual presents, she was able to be part of it interactively.