Nils performing at the school play

Last wednesday dad had to rush home from a safety event in Eindhoven to be able to see Nils perform at the yearly school play. They organised it this year in a big tent near our famous Romboutstoren. This is where the famous Jan Klaasen is burried. Anyway, there were a couple of actors and they had to solve a mystery and each group of children sang a song and had a piece of the puzzle to solve the mystery. At the end the last group sang the song of Jan Klaassen trompetter in het leger van de Prins.. When it was finished the children were given a lemonade drink and a piece of candy as a rewrd. Wende was also there with us and was very very impressed.. probably also because it was quite late for her.

A warm and mechanical weekend

Friday dad picked up the kids and together we did some shopping for the weekend. We bought food for a bbq on sunday and after we finished the shopping we went home to enjoy the sunshine. Nils and Wende played outside with Lindsey who lives a couple of houses further on. Ingmar in the men time, went to bed to get a little sleep. Lisette came home quite ealry and Lindsey showed up (as usual) around desert time and had a little desert with us too. In the evening dad went to a neighbour to help with a motorcycle of this neighbour's girfriend. It is exactly the same type of motor dad also has, a Suzuki savage. Her cylindre head seemed to have a small leakage and we wanted to find out if the bolts were tightended enough. To check that we needed to remove the gasoline tank and the cylindre head cover with the rocker arms. We could not finish this friday evening so we continued saturday and finished what we wanted to do. the bolts seemed tight enough and we checked the clearance between the rocker arms and the cam shaft and this seemed to be okay as well. It only lacked oil, there should have been 650cc in the engine and we had to add almost half a liter (500cc)...We also had to fix an electric problem which made the engine cut out when steering to the right.. When we finished Emily made a test drive to see if her motorcycle was to her satisfaction. During this Nils Wende and Ingmar played in the garden. Ingmar likes to crawl around the garden in search of new things. He is so very curious. We also prepared the swing for Ingmar so he could have a go. An how he liked that! Smiling and laughing out loud! Tonight even, Lisette saw him standing on his own without help! This afternoon we went to "the beach" of Andel. There were not many people there, in fact we were the only ones.. Lindsey and her older sister joined us and they played with the sand and the water. Nils and a boy he knew from school made a small pond and gathered small water animals in it. In the afternoon we had a nice nice bbq with Lindsey as our guest..

Moving grandma and grandpa Noort

Saturday dad went to Naaldwijk to help with the moving of Lisette's grandma and granddad. Almost the whole family was there and we all made sure that the new home looked as much the same as the "old" home they were moving from. Unfortunately the new home was a bit smaller and not all the furniture could be placed in the new home. Afterwards dad drove home but stopped by Lisette's dad in De Lier where Lisette's grandma and granddad were staying during the move. They were ofcourse a bit sad that they had to move and curious how it would look like. When dad arrived home he found a garden full of kids playing on the trampoline and mom enjoying the sun (as long as she could with all these kids wanting attention..)

Unfortunately the battery of the camera was empty and dad could only manage to take one picture..

Fox hunt

Every year there is a day organised at Nils's school called "meesters en juffen dag". It is a day to celebrate the birthdays of the teachers. Some parents also are involved and Lisette took a day off to lend a hand. Unfortunately Lisette guided another group with a fox hunt and Nils was a little disappointed about that. So Lisette took a group of children by the hand and walked through Andel in search of teachers dressed as .. well, that was the surprise. The head teacher was dressed as workman (woman) and was posted next to real workman.. Nils's teacher "juf marielle" was dressed as a gardener and was working in a garden with a overall and a handkerchief on her head.

The smaals in Andel!

Last wednesday we had Arthur,Lisa Jack and Emma over from France! It was great seeing them again although it was only for a day.. But that was not all we had that day.. First we went to Nils's school with the whole family because Nils had half a day lessons. After that we went to Wijk en Aalburg because we had to go see a physician who reguraly checks Ingmar as with Nils and Wende. All was okay but the weight was a little behind but that was because he had been sick a couple of weeks ago and subsequently lost some weight. Ingmar also received a vaccination in both legs and that hurt.. Poor guy.. When that was finished we did some shopping for groceries and we managed to get back in time before the smaal's arrived. And when they arrived they even managed to get us some presents from France.. Thank you! We then all took a seat at our table to have lunch. After lunch Lisette and the smaals went to an outdoor playground where the kids ran their butt off. Slided from the slides and had to be pushed at the swings. Dad stayed behind because we also had a new couch delivered. Luckily this one arrived quickly and dad joined the rest at the playground. Nils had to go to swimming lessons so Lisette took Nils Wende and Ingmar to the swimming pool and dad stayed for some time together with the smaals at the playground. After some time we all went home to prepare dinner (pancakes). Arthur made himself very useful and backed most of the pancakes. We all ate quite a number of pancakes and had icecream afterwards. Unfortunately quite soon after the icecream it was time for arthur and family to go back to their apartment again and the next day they were going back to France.. We enjoyed their company very much and said goodbye reluctantly. Let's hope we can manage to visit them after the summer..

Waalwijk and Danne's birthday!!

Last thursday we went to the dentist for our half yearly check and after the dentist finished with dad, Wende wanted te be next and climbed up dad's lap. Last time she gave the dentist a hard time by keeping her mouth shut but his time she let the dentist check all of her teeth. All of them were in good shape and Wende was allowed to take a small toy from the cardboard box the dentist kept in a corner of the room. Nils did not need dad's lap and jumped in the seat by himself. Also he had brushed well so he was also allowed to grap a small toy and everyone was happy. Ah well, maybe the dentist could have been a bit diappointed. Saturday we first did some shopping for groceries and after that we did some serious work on the outside of the house and the garden. NIls and Wende had a great time on their bycicles cycling up and down the street together with friends from the neighbourhood. In the afternoon we went to Waalwijk to buy two small seats for Nils and Wende in the car. After we completed that mission we set out of ice cream while mom bought new cloths in a shop nearby. There was a scouting exhibition on the great square and while mom was having fun, Wende Nils and dad took a tour round the square and we found someone who could paint wende's face with lovely flowers and Nils found a stand where you could build your own boat from plastic foam. Sunday we first went for a swim after breakfast. Mom stayed at home with Ingmar because he still suffers from a bad cold. So, dad Wende and Nils plunged away in the pool and Nils showed how he learned the "schoolslag".

In the afternoon we went to Duiven to see Danne who celebrated her 5th birthday!! It was nice to see her parents again as well ofcourse. Nils gave Danne a bowling kit and Wende gave Danne a stretchable plastic string. At first she did not know what it was for but Leonie explained her that she would show her what it was for. There was so much going on that Nils and Wende (especially Nils) did not have much time to play with Danne and Nils felt a bit sad about it. When we returned home, Nils drew a drawing for Danne of a house with Danne's dad and Danne's mom (who was drawn on the roof for whatever reason..??) and ofcourse with Danne. From what I know he made this drawing a specially nice one and we were asked if we could post this drawing to Danne.

Easter weekend 2010

We started the easter weekend with searching for numbered eggs in Andel. The local shop owners organize a eggs search party every year where children can search for eggs and on the eggs a number is written. Then there is a list where you can identify the shop where you can trade the egg for a toy. We had to walk a long time time before Lisette spotted a garden where a great number of eggs where "hidden". Nils chose a fighter plane, Wende two little horses with wings and for Ingmar Nils and Wende chose a set of toys to play with in the sand. In the afternoon we went to Hulst to see Wouter's parents and Maaike and Jaap and Maartje and Guusje. Sunday morning grandpa made us all a spectular easter breakfast table complete with huge chocolate bunny's for everyone (including the adults..) The kids immediately started to eat and especially Nils almost finished his.. After breakfast Marja came around and took the kids to walk the dogs. In the afternoon we went to the woods where the kids made hide outs. Even grandma came with us. After dinner we went home again. The second easter day we went to De Lier to see Lisette's parents. Martin and Judith were also there and with them Davina, Thymen and Mathijs. We also went to a playground where Nils and Wende had fun on the swings. Dad took Ingmar on his lap on the swing and he loved it! Laughin out loud during the swinging..