Hertsje

Look who I got to hold tonight!

Oh, is she ever a sweet heart.

Hertsje is a very alert and very strong little girl.

And would you look at that dimple?!

Pake is a baby hog.  Not a piglet, just someone who adores holding the people he loves.

 She seems to adore him also.

 We think she is PERFECT!

I'm so excited to find out what her favorite songs will be, what toys she will enjoy the most, what books she will want to have read to her over and over, what her favorite color will be, and what college basketball team she will choose to play for.

Ten Months Until Christmas

From this past Christmas - this is Jonge playing with Kado's "Eyeballs".

I think I've sufficiently recovered from the holidays.  It only took two months.

Crocheting

 Today I crocheted.

I didn't mean to, it just sort of happened.

All I was trying to do was to figure out the increases for a flat bottom bowl.

This bowl will hold reusable make-up removers.  Or stone eggs.  I'm just not sure yet.

 I'm kind of hoping that Famke will like this one.  If not, it will hold that small leftover ball of yarn.

And this one will hold my cotton yarn, once I get some more.

I made two more almost like this.

Before THGGM counts how many I've made I'll have to think of SOMETHING useful to do with them.  Because he is sure to ask, 'What are they for?'

I haven't a clue.

My Yesterday

I'm crazy about how cute they look all lined up for their turn playing the bells.

Jonge can actually play songs with them.  The other two just enjoy jingling all the way.  But it won't be long.  They get the idea.  Of couse, I want the bells lined up C D E F G A B C.  Jonge won't line up the bells that he won't be needing, and he puts them in the order of first used.  This drives me nuts.  Or, maybe it's just the noise.

Anyway.., poor Jonge and Famke were sick again during the night last night.

Kado ran a fever yesterday afternoon, but didn't seem to have any 'symptoms'.  Ah hem.

 Feintsje seems like such a big boy sitting on the floor playing with toys.

For his age, he is only in the 50th percentile for height and weight.  This means that he is still easy for me to tote around.

Just look at those checks!  One would think those alone would put him off the charts!

Since nobody felt all that well yesterday, we watched a movie, something we never do.  Horton Hears a Who.  We all piled on the couch together and they woke me up every time I had to fast forward over the commercials.

Playing Catch-up

Today I was planning to have some cute grand kids to play with.  Jonge had a dentist appointment.  But during the night he began vomiting and running a fever, so that didn't happen.

Poor Jonge.

But that left me with an entire day to play catch-up on things like laundry.  I seem to have lost my momentum on sorting and purging.  I'll have to watch another episode of Hoarders to get myself motivated.

Speaking of purging.., I found this cute little Dutch girl bookend in Holland last weekend.  I've had my eye on it for quite some time.  It was marked half price so I got it.
Did you notice that had nothing at all to do with purging? Yes.  So did I.

Now what to do with these cans I covered in scrapbook paper a few weeks back?  I'd planned to fill them with Valentine's cookies.  But I didn't. I have two more larger ones just like them. And five more not like them at all.  Except that they are covered in paper.

And it appears I went a bit crazy spelling "LOVE" with my blocks.

 I do get carried away.

Have you noticed?

I try to hide it, but sometimes I just can't.

So, today I grabbed a garbage bag and loaded up all of my pine cones.

Not to throw away though.  No.  I could not do that.  They are safely in the basement.

This is my favorite magazine EVER.  This exact issue.  From 1998.  Every single thing that I loved in it in 1998 I still love.

So every night this week I've been going through it page by wonderful page.

I think this means that I am terminally boring.  I wonder if the people who are actually IN this magazine still like all of the same things?  Probably not.  I'm sure this isn't a GOOD thing, but I have two copies of this one, as I love it sooo very much.

Was it bright and sunny by you this morning?  Here it was.  Then, in the afternoon it started snowing those HUGE flakes and hasn't stopped yet.

While it was bright and sunny, I put away all of my snowman dishes and mugs.  That may have been a bit hasty.

I'm looking forward to spring.

Next on my list is dismantling this one last tree.

It's just not as pretty when it's only half lit.

The lights have been on for almost three months straight.  

I'm going to miss it.

But now it's on to Spring!

And it couldn't get here fast enough.  Our boiler is starting to make crazy groaning sounds.

On the menu tonight is Cauliflower Cheese Soup.  Yum.  Perfect weather for it.  But now the entire house stinks.  Why couldn't cauliflower have a more pleasant odor?   So many questions, so few answers...

First Visit to Beppe's House!

Well one could not tell from the picture, but Hertsje came to my house for the first time this morning.

She had a doctor's appointment (she is perfect!) and they stopped over on the way home.

Of course, since I still have a cold I did not touch her.

But I watched her sleep all contentedly snuggled in her car seat.

Her daddy was a healthy 10 lbs. 8 1/2 oz. when he was born, but nine days later a fever sent him into isolation for a couple of days.  It seemed that he had picked up a cold from his siblings - one of them ended up with a very nasty ear infection.

Knowing how horrifying it was to see a baby in one of those metal hospital cribs is what gave me the strength not to snatch Hertsje out of her car seat and hold her.

Thankfully, tonight I am feeling almost a hundred percent better.

Party On

Can't say that I felt any better today.

But did that stop me from getting out the ink pads and rubber stamps?

No.  It did not.

Jonge made this sweet card of his family.

Kado had more success AFTER he realized that he had been using the wrong side of the stamp.

I now have some adorable blue Valentine stamps

But once he got the hang of it, he had a great time with it.

Famke cut all of the remaining heart and circle doilies into teensy bits which she announced was a salad for her mommy.  

And although I did not feel like it, we did have our Valentine Tea.

Sadly, we forgot to dress appropriately, leaving our wigs, hats, and scarves in the dress up drawer.

Famke's name was Sweet Cheeks and her guest was a stuffed tiger.

 Kado was my husband, Mr. Nesbitz, and the doll Jack was our guest.

Attempts were made at polite conversation, but actually Famke enjoyed pouring every one's 'tea' and Kado made off with way more than his fair share of the chocolate cake and everyone was happy.

That is what made it a success for me.

Then Kado spilled tea and required a complete change of clothing.

He felt so terrible about it that to cheer him up Famke pinned clothes pins to their lips.

It would appear that now Feintsje has the cold.

He had a few bouts today when it was very difficult to console him.

But then, so did I.

Valentine's Day

 I am sick.  Because of this you will see no new pictures here of the beautiful Hertsje.

So here are three pictures of Feintsje to hold you over.  He is not sick.  Although he seems to be teething.

Famke and Kado seem to have what I have.

THGGM does not have it.

This means that HE got to visit with and hold adorable Hertsje tonight.  I tried to force him to take my camera, but he is a formidable force himself and would not oblige.

 Feintsje had a great time today chewing on his book.

We had great plans for a Valentine's Day Tea Party, which did not happen.

So, we shall extend Valentine's Day by one more day and party tomorrow.  That is if we are all feeling up to it.

Famke and Kado did make butterfly treat bags for their Valentine's.

It isn't like any of us are bed-ridden, just snotty nosed with the occasional fevered brow.

Jonge had his first ever school Valentine's Day party.

The mommy went to enjoy all of the festivities.

It was also the 100th day of school.  Zero the Hero came.

While Kado and Feintsje napped Famke and I watched Caillou and Bubble Guppies.

She pointed out that I did not sleep.

No.  I did not.

I pointed out that neither did she.

Our Valentine's Day dinner featured chili from Wendy's.

I did manage to make a Valentine for THGGM.

About twenty minutes ago I remembered that I have several wicker baskets FULL of Valentine craftiness that I made earlier this month.  And about a dozen rubber stamps I drug up from the basement weeks ago for Valentine making.

Oh, well.  Tomorrow we may have another chance.

About all I was up to today was gluing heartsy things to paper doilies.

Although I did go all out and cut our peanut butter sandwiches in the shape of a heart.  No one ate them though.

And I'll put this here so I don't forget:

For the past several weeks Kado will come up to me and tell me in the sweetest ever voice, "Beppe, I really like your house.  It's pretty."

I need to hear this.

Because on the other end of the spectrum we have Famke, who today asked me, "Is it just grandma's who like to have lots of junk in their house, or do other people like to have a lot of junk in their house too?"

I told her I think it's just me and she seemed relieved.

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day today.  And if not today, there's always tomorrow.

And then I shall remove the last Christmas-y tree.  It's in the living room.  The top half of the lights went out last night.  So it's time -  from the day after Thanksgiving until the day after Valentine's Day seems like a good run.

Tomorrow I hope to be feeling 100% better.

Hope.  It's a good thing.

Our Little Heart