Tomorrow

School starts tomorrow. I remember that when I was a kid I had trouble going to sleep before the first day of school. And I usually woke up way too early. Funny, that last part doesn't seem to happen anymore... (well, the waking up part does, but not the actual 'getting out of bed early' part).

By the way, I'm typing this post with a band aid around my ring finger since I gave myself a paper cut. New books, lovely papers to wrap them in and, ah yes, the inevitable paper cut. This time I outdid myself. I hadn't even gotten any paper on the books yet. I cut myself whilst opening the new roll of paper! And these were only just Caitlin's books. Oh boy.

At least I didn't hurt any fingers whilst sewing this:

Excursion update: Bokrijk

I'm finally getting round to posting about our visit to Bokrijk. Bokrijk is an open air museum where historic buildings have been rebuilt. Everything is authentic (furniture, tools etc.) and actors make the village come to life. It brings you back to the way things were around 1900.

There are a lot of schools that plan excursions to this museum, but I guess mine wasn't one of them since I had never been there before. We really liked it! It was very interesting. I only wish I had thought about bringing flat shoes. Walking several miles on cobblestones on your heels (even small ones) is not to be recommended.

This was my personal favorite: seeing the kids dressed up in 19th century clothing...

complete with "klompen"!

Ah, the perfect solution for tired little feet: a "bolderkar" (I have no idea what these are called in English).

Wish I could fit in there ;)

A Tea Party

for Ava. For her mommy, father, brothers and sister. Sharing, remembering, loving, wishing...

The beginning of a new tradition.

Should we use these?

Or these?

Ah, a perfect match.

First some cake...

then some pink milk

to the very last drop!

Happy Birthday Superprincess. I hope you were able to see all the tea parties being held in your honour. You bring families closer together. Make us hold on just a little tighter. Thank you.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes a frown...

is a smile upside down!

Japan in Belgium

Another excursion we made was to the Japanese Garden.

We turned it into an overnight weekend trip and combined it with a trip to Bokrijk (blogpost yet to come).

The weather was slightly overcast but still warm and it wasn't very crowded so it made for a pleasant walk. Though for Caitlin 'walking' can never be considered as 'pleasant'. When we asked the kids at the end of the day whether they had "a fun day", her answer was: "Fun day?!? We hade to WALK all day!". It was actually pretty funny!

Afterwards we went to the playground.

Yes, that's my son in the red shirt, and yes, he did go up higher. I got a little worried when he let go of the ropes to stand on the top platform and I watched him while he was clearly considering jumping to the lower platform...

He decided against it and saved my heart from skipping a few beats. He's such a daredevil. Just like his mom not! ;)

The butterfly effect

We took the children to the Butterfly Garden recently and had a magical time. Hundreds of butterflies were moving through the air elegantly all around us.



Beautiful, aren't they?

Touching the butterflies is not allowed, but sometimes the butterflies come and sit on your hand (or head!) by themselves. We tried to persuade this little one after seeing the successful attempt of another little girl, but we weren't as lucky. We got pretty close though...

They also had some creepy crawlies. No need to be scared with such a big brother close to you.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach, mostly making paper flowers and soaking up the sun. A lot of kids make these flowers and then sell them for sea shells.

We truly enjoyed this family day. A day of no worries. Wel, almost, I did managed to tear off the tiny ribbon that was holding up my dress. Where's a sewing needle and thread when you need it? The problem was solved later by using a rubber band to hold the pieces together. Maybe it'll become the newest fashion trend ;)

Neglect

Yes dear blog, I have neglected you...

and I'm feeling so guilt-ridden about not visiting my favorite blogs. So, I offer you all my apologies.

But now, enough with the "feeling guilty" post. Nobody's interested in reading that, right?

So I thought I'd start with a picture:

I made this drawstring bag for Caitlin's swimgear and she said that she loves it! Yay! I also made one for Robin. He requested two little dolphins (sorry, I haven't taken any pictures of it yet).

There are 4 more weeks of summer holiday and then school starts again on September 1. It'll be the first year that Caitlin goes swimming with her class. As a mom who only learned how to swim when she was 10 I'm a bit worried about my kids swimming adventures. So she had lessons in July and she can now officially swim all by herself! And I feel a little less worried :-)

So, I guess I'm off to a good start for August. One blogpost and two bags. I feel less guilty already ;-)