Hello Kitty Museum

Today we took a visit to the Siebold Huis in Leiden, a museum about Japan. They currently have an exhibition that we simply could not miss - Hello Kitty, Hello Holland! Being the Fall break, Hello Kitty was there herself for a great photo op.

Felix shakes Hello Kitty's hand.

He pretty much thought the point of this piece was to play peek-a-boo behind Hello Kitty. That works, too.

There was a difficult scavenger hunt and some craft activities for the kids.

And lots of Hello Kitty things. Our favorite was the guitar.

Felix enjoyed the magnetic Hello Kitty dress-up wall.

Dutch Hello Kitty

Marzipan Cupcakes

This morning we made some cupcakes and decorated them with marzipan. For those who don't know, marzipan is similar to fondant. It is easy to model, kind of like play-doh, but it tastes a lot better! Felix was doing a really good job at playing and making things until he realized it was edible. Then there was more snacking that modeling going on.

Our rolling pin has gone AWOL on us, so we had to improve with cups.

Evie ended up making way too many. We only had 12 cupcakes!

Evie was also able to help Felix.

The finished products! The kids were very proud of their work!

Waiting for the Tram

On our way to Zoetermeer yesterday to visit Oma Wilma. How cute is this family???

Jack-O-Lantern

Evie lost a top tooth this evening making her look like a jack-o-lantern just in time for Halloween. This is her third lost tooth. Hopefully the tooth fairy won't forget to stop by tonight.

Music Class

Starting this school year Evie is taking weekly music lessons on Saturday morning. Today was the first session that the parents were allowed to stay and watch. It was definitely a little noisy, but also really fun to watch.

After class, Tom took the kids to go visit Max, who lives nearby.

And before going home they stopped by Aunty's house, too!

Superhero Hunt

After school today most of the teachers were transformed into superheroes and found places to hide in the neighborhood. Evie and Mirre set out together to find them all. Each superhero had a letter to contribute to the puzzle. In the end we found all but a few, but were still able to figure out the puzzle. We saw Spiderman, firefighter and policeman, Robin Hood, Sinterklaas, and Mega Mindy. It was great fun but quite tiring!

Evie and Mirre looking for superheroes.

One of Evie's teachers was Superwoman!

The other one was Mega Mindy.

Worth a photo!

Sunday Painting

Today was a great day for some painting. The children each donned an old t-shirt of Tom's and went to work. They used a large piece of paper from the easel which provided plenty of space for their artwork. Afterwards they each painted on canvas. They did a really god job!

My Hero

This week is Children's Book Week in the Netherlands. The theme this year is heroes. For school Evie had to say who her hero is and why. She answered with Papa, because he hung up my nightlight and I really wanted that.

It's true. For weeks Evie would ask every day when she was finally going to get a nightlight. We had her old moon nightlight from her bedroom, we just hadn't hung it up yet. About four weeks ago Tom hung it up. Evie has been so happy ever since!

Welcome, October!

Today is the first day of October, but it feels more like the first day of August! Temperatures reached 26ºC (79ºF), which is a lot warmer than this summer! Holland fully taking advantage of the weather with just about everybody heading to the closest beach. Tomorrow will be just as nice, so we'll go to the beach tomorrow. Today, however, Tom took the kids to a water playground in a nearby park. It's just a whole bunch of puddles and mud and old pipes and messy fun! They were pretty dirty when they got home and had to go directly in the bathtub!

Museon with Mirre

This afternoon Tom took Evie and her good friend Mirre to the Museon in The Hague. Museon is a science museum filled with fun stuff for kids. The current exhibit about science changing the world went a little over their heads, but they had fun!

Waiting for the tram.

Looking through some microscopes.

Watching a film about the moving of monuments in Egypt.

Kite Festival

This afternoon was the kite festival at the beach. Tom took the kids there where they saw all sorts of fun fliers in the sky.

Sewing

This morning Evie started to make a quilt for her new baby cousin expected in February. This is her first time sewing, and luckily Grandma Nan was here to teach her. She ended up doing all the stitches in the quilt, including some hand stitching at the end. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the finished product.

Evie is really sewing!

Putting the two sides together.

Here she is snipping the threads.

Evie shows off one strip done!

Helping Grandma

While Grandma Nan is here she has been working on a couple baby quilts. Evie is very interested in the whole process. Here we got some photos of Grandma cutting, while Evie arranges the squares. On the agenda for tomorrow: sewing lessons!

Grandma Nan

After almost a year of not visiting, Grandma Nan safely arrived in Holland this morning! The kids were especially happy to see her and gave her lots of cuddles.

She brought a couple new books about Maine, which of course had to be read at once.
Later this week Liz will have be having her tonsils out, so it will be nice having some extra help around the house.