A Year Older and Wiser (Mom too!)

This year, I was going to be prepared. I was. I knew Kev's birthday is (relatively speaking) right after Christmas....March sounds far away...but trust me, after all the Sinterklaas / Christmas bills roll in sometime after the new year, I'm already having to think about party themes, invites, etc.........

These past months have been all about Kev's newest passion - football. Since September, he trains every Wednesday and has games every Saturday (usually 8.30 AM!) and in between he wants to play in pick up games in the field near the house, play after school at at the day care, play during recess.......you get the idea.

So, I thought - why not do a football theme party? I did some research and found a football shaped piñata (since that went over so well last year), came up with the idea for how to make football cupcakes for the class party, purchased a ''how to" plan for a football themed scavenger/activity hunt, and decided the boys coming would be old enough to handle using the chocolate fountain that has been collecting dust since we last used it at Thanksgiving  -  2010   .... I came across an idea for make your own pizza's for the lunch......We had all the elements in place around mid-Feb....handmade invites were ready to go out.

I braced myself for another birthday party. At home.

It needs to be said - what was I thinking?! 8 boys from ages 6-8..... You cannot calculate how much energy they generate (and feed off of each other) - but it's exponential. A mathematical impossibility. I was so glad I had my activities all lined up, an agenda to stick to - the plan was to keep things moving along, the fights to a minimum, and the house on it's foundation by the end of the afternoon. I can do this!

Well, maybe I could.......

Make your own pizza's went over well, but as the pizzas were going into the oven, the worst thing possible for a party centered around an outdoor football themed scavenger hunt happened...it started raining, Buckets. In true cats and dogs, let's build an ark kind of way - and it proceeded to continue to do so for the next 3 hours - and all my party planning went out the window.

We stuck to the chocolate fountain. While the (once white) dining room chairs are a little worse for the wear now, it was a hit. We had grapes, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, lady fingers and ribbed potato chips for dipping!

Next year - Not that I want to think about next year, but I think maybe 24 hours had passed before Kevin was talking about ''next year'' - I'm having the party somewhere else. Anywhere else. I'm still vacuuming up confetti from the piñata that we ended up hanging from the ceiling fan.........

Winter Wonderland 2011-2012 Recap

For the 3rd winter in a row, this year we had snow and cold enough weather that the man-made lake we live on froze over.

But, this year, unlike 2009/10 and 2010/11 there was no White Christmas, more like a White Valentines day in 2012. After the snow at the end of January, there were several days (weeks) of very cold weather for the Netherlands...like 20 below Celsius! Considering we live at or below sea level here, that's cold, especially when coupled with the ''normal'' icy wind we get about that time every year.














The upside.....the lakes and canals stayed frozen for several weeks and weekends. We got to go sledding, ice skating...all nearby the house in the (cold) fresh air!

The sled we already had, but the ice skates that were double blades, pull on over your sneaker variety were not cutting it this year with Kev's new exacting standards. He wanted ''normal'' skates, with the boot and single blade - which scare mom as I imagine ankle injuries, to say nothing of sliced off fingers due to falls and and blades and children......Ok, I'll stop. You get the idea.

Normally, the first day of snow or ice leads to a run up in all shops and second hand sites making it impossible to find ice skates. This was the issue last year, and I was hesitant to buy a pair of skates that we would get use maybe one weekend or two before the thaw and would then most likely be too small by the time he could use them again next year - but it's so hard to say no to that face!

I was saved by a combi set thing that I found - at all places - at the local DIY store.The adjustable boot spans 4 shoes sizes, so we should get a few years use, and even better - you can swap the ice blades out for roller blades - so you can pretty much use the things year round. Score!

So, from Ice Skates in February......to Rollerblades in April! Love, love, love this idea!

Season's Greetings

I don't know where the month of December has gone....It feels like I've been waiting since oh, October, for it to be Christmas, but then, all of the sudden, there this two week gap of time - it was just Sinterklaas...and now, it's almost Christmas - and I'm not ready!! How did this happen?? :-)


Long story short (kind of), the Christmas cards are going in the post tomorrow, but since it got so late this year, I'm not sure they will make it in time to everyone in the US.



In the meantime, here is the digital version for everyone - and rest assured, your personalized greetings and Kevin autographed versions are on the way, I promise! (Yes, he signed the Christmas Cards this year all by himself!) :-)

Through all the ups and downs, rough patches, etc......I am reminded how blessed I am to have freinds and family who love and support us in all they ways that they do. Thank you for being there and for being you - we appreciate it more than we can say.

If I ever forget to say it or express it as I should - I'm sorry!

A Very Merry Christmas to you all!

Love,
Sharon & Kevin