{the simple things} brightness

Ugh.

That's basically all I can say.

Ugh.

I hear someone call "Mommy? Mommy! M-o-m-m-y!" what feels like every five seconds. The cats follow me around the house, meowing. There are dust bunnies having parties under my couch, and a laundry mountain that laughs at me because there seems to be no way to conquer it today. But I will. Still, I get so tired of it sometimes.

I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30pm on Friday, after having raced to the pediatrician right after picking up big brother from school and hearing from our neighbor that her kids have scarlet fever. And they all shared the chocolate fountain last weekend. Luckily although my kids have been sick for two weeks and we've had our share of sore throats, fevers and midnight barf, it was not scarlet fever. And they are much better now and have started to eat like normal again. Which also means they have their energy back.

Yesterday I took my husband to the emergency clinic. His throat is so sore he can't swallow, and his fever won't go down.

Outside it started to get gray and rainy again. Temperatures are supposed to drop further today and it's supposed to start snowing again. Can you believe that? Snow. Again.

Oh, and I have to get to work tomorrow, for a long, long day no less.

It seems for every thing I take care of, there are five more screaming for my attention.

And although I don't get it all done, it's the little things I do get done, that make my day. I am still exhausted, but I feel better for the simple things. Like a clean kitchen. Folded laundry. A birthday gift made for a good friend. Taking both kids to swimming lessons. Making tea from sage that grows in my own backyard.

And these simple little bursts of brightness: A bowl of clementines...

...and some daffodils.

Both bought quickly on the run, at a discount store I don't usually shop at. But Tuesday after guitar practice little brother started to have a meltdown, so we just quickly grabbed a few things since it was on our way. At the checkout I noticed the daffodils - tiny, cheap little bunches, sold as they were, not even standing in water. I bought one anyway, and put it in a mug with water while making dinner, prepping school lunch and trying to keep little brother from screaming.

Not even two days later, I had this burst of bright yellow abundance in my kitchen.

I got some more daffodils yesterday, and they already started to blossom.

Maybe it's just me, but even when I'm exhausted and everyone is sick, the rest of the house a mess and it's cold and rainy outside - some bright yellow daffodils and orange clementines on my clean and uncluttered kitchen counters make all the difference.

Linking with Rebecca's simple things sunday today.

Happy Sunday

Swenja

{the simple things} guitar practice

When big brother was two years old, the Easter bunny got him a guitar. A light blue, wooden toy guitar. He loved it. Like any good rock star, his guitar didn't last all that long. So the next year the Easter bunny came back, this time with the smallest size of a "real" guitar he could find.

He has been playing with it ever since, and this year we finally ended up getting him enrolled in guitar lessons. I have no idea where he got his love of music from - sports and music are two things I am an absolute failure at. But then again, my boys didn't get too much from their mommy, anyway.

He's had weekly lessons for a couple of weeks now, and he does practice most days. He will protest when you ask him to practice, mind you. But once he actually puts down what he was doing and gets his guitar, he enjoys it.

He's a little bit frustrated with the fact that he has to start learning the basics, he'd much rather learn chords and play all his favorite songs (current play list includes I can see clearly now, Let her go and anything by Eric Clapton, preferably Layla). But he does keep practicing, and I love that he found something to enjoy. He's not someone who's great at team sports and he doesn't like the fact that all his friends play soccer. Playing the guitar or going fishing with daddy is so much more like him.

Speaking of daddy - well, after taking big brother to his lessons once or twice, he too caught the guitar bug and started to take lessons. Now they practice together a few times a week, especially on Sundays. Can't wait for them to be able to play on long summer nights!

I have a feeling the Easter bunny will have to be bringing a bigger guitar this year... 

Linking up with the simple things sunday.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Swenja

{the simple things} new playground

We live in the middle of a new development, and just as our part of it got finished last year, the next part started. Sigh. More excavators, dump trucks, cranes and the like. A little boy's heaven, you'd think. Unless your little boys have been used to that for a good four years now. A dump truck? Yawn. Look, there's a new crane! Oh what else is new....

Anyway. The good news is that the city finally finished the new playground that is right between our part of the development and the new one. The process started last summer, and the fun part was that all the kids and parents who live here got invited to a planning meeting to make a wish list of things they'd like for the playground. 

The not so fun part was the wet summer and the fact that building the playground took much, much longer than anticipated. It got finished just before Christmas, but the sand didn't get in until this year. So now it's all done! And it's great. Last Sunday we got a little bit of sunshine (while I'm typing it's snowing outside. Again. Sigh.), so we got some much needed fresh air.

The slide seems to be everyone's favorite. We've been to the playground a few times since it opened, but last week was little brother's first time of going down the slide all by himself. Before that he's stand at the top, holding up traffic and wait for big brother or friends to go down with him. Now he does it all by himself.

I love the details. Such as the swinging bench.

Oh and yes, that is a mouse sitting on a box of explosives. Go figure...

But the best part? The playground is so close that I can literally see the kid from my back deck - or open the upstairs window and tell them dinner is ready. Not that I can let the little one out there all by himself yet, but I'm sure that time will come sooner than I'd like to think.

How about you? What are your favorite playgrounds and do you ever let your kids there unattended?

Sharing with Rebecca's simple things sunday today. 

Happy Sunday,

Swenja

{the simple things} Rock Star Cats

It was Karneval over here this week, so the boys had to dress up for preschool and school. For some reason, cat costumes have been very popular at this house. Wonder where that comes from... Although we did lions last year and magicians for Halloween the past two years, cats remain the absolute favorite costume of all time.

Except that big brother is six years old now, and in school. Somehow I could not bring myself to buy him the same cat costume just a size bigger. A six-year-old dressing up as cat? Hmmm....

Instead, we took a cue from their all-time favorite music, the Mukketier-Bande (if you follow the link, click on the green arrow to listen to some samples).

You see, their all-time favorite song is about a rock-star cat named Atze, complete with leather jacket and electric guitar. And I just couldn't resist that one. So I got two used leather jackets from eBay for very little money, plus inflatable guitars. Then I made some cat ears using fleece we had left over from other projects, and bought cat tails since the week got so busy that I didn't have time to make them. We also printed a picture of Atze on simple white tees so that the boys could wear them under their jacket and show them to those who might not know who Atze the cat is (blasphemy!).

Thus we had two rock star cats for this year's carnival parties. And I can just see a rock star party in our future...




Happy Sunday,
Swenja

{the simple things} Paperwhites. Cause I really can't see that snow anymore.

What a winter. Rainy and warm before Christmas, and as soon as the new year is there it starts snowing. And snowing. Then it thaws again. And, next thing you know, it snows again.

Can you tell I am a little tired of it? I don't even feel like going out and taking pictures of it. I just want no more snow this winter. I am tired of driving through it to work, tired of being cold and tired of having to dress the boys in countless layers before going out to the brand-new playground right behind our house (more on that some other day, as apparently I was also too cold to take decent photos of it).

Last month I did Apartment Therapy's January Cure, and one of my favorite parts of this and any AT Cure is always the fresh flowers task. Every week, you go out and buy some fresh flowers for your home. I should really keep this up, because even if I didn't deep clean every last kitchen cabinet (I did clean out the worst offenders though), this really brightens up my home and makes me smile.

The simple things, right?

So, here's to a pot of paperwhites, bought sometime in January and now brightening snowy February days on my kitchen windowsill.

You see that green no-idea-what-it-is-called plant behind the flowers? That's actually a leftover from the same Cure assignment over a year ago.

We also have the house filled with lovely potted blue muscari that were part of decorations for a party. So there you go, Winter, even if you insist on dumping even more snow outside, in here it's Spring!

Cheers,

Swenja

{the simple things} snow

We got so much snow over the last two weeks! Driving to work in the morning has not been fun, but the kids sure did enjoy all that winter weather. Especially snowball fights with daddy.

I got hardly any snow photos though. When the kids went outside with daddy, I was going to go run some errands and do some much needed grocery shopping. Then I looked at them, turned off the car and went inside to grab my camera for some snow photos before I left. This is what I got:

Big brother preparing for his next attack. As you can tell from his hat, he's already taken a few hits.

And there comes daddy's revenge...

The brothers teaming up and plotting for their next turn. Little brother prefers to give strategic advice only, not getting in on the actual snowball action much.

It's a shame I didn't get more photos of all that winter fun, and none at all of the winter landscape. Too busy working, and when not working too busy trying to catch up and snuggle on the couch - with a blanket and some hot tea. Brrrrr. 

Happy Sunday!
Swenja

{the simple things} tea party

Part of our activity Advent calendar was a tea party. I found this tin tea set that was not too girly for the boys, which I knew they could also use in their kitchen. I included some tea and anise cookies, and we had our tea party. Amazingly, the brothers, who are usually just one loud blur running past me and racing around the dining room table, actually sat down and had a very nice, cultivated and quiet tea for half an hour or so. After that, it was back to chasing each other around the house, screaming. Of course.

Apparently I was not the only one documenting the simple things...

Joining Rebecca's simple things Sunday again and hoping to get back into the habit!



Swenja

{the simple things} puddles

One month? Really? It's been one month since I managed to post last? Exactly where did that month go? I mean, I sort of know where it went. Into a new job that has been keeping be busy, and into lots of holiday to dos. Even though we're busy, I still try to do as many homemade gifts as possible. I even took photos of some of them, with plans to post about them. Haha. If I keep going at this rate I might show them to you around Easter.

Oh well.

Sometimes some things just have to give. And so, there aren't many posts. We only did two batches of cookies this year.

But we did take full advantage of the puddles around the neighborhood.

And there are lots of puddles, mind you.

What is it about  boys and puddles, by the way? Mine can't stay out of them for even a nanosecond. You'd think they'd be tired when the come back inside. Nope. Instead, they keep running around, chasing each other around the dining room table.

Boy, I could really use some of that energy!



Cheers,
Swenja

{the simple things} sometimes I want to be a cat

Really, sometimes I look at my cats with a tiny bit of envy. No matter how busy and loud things are around them, it doesn't faze them the least bit. Well, at least one of them seems to have mastered that Zen-like ability to relax in the middle of the biggest chaos.

See what I mean? This cat is the most relaxed being on the planet. He actually likes being in the middle of everything, boys running around and screaming, riding bikes. Maybe that comes from being able to just leave when it gets too much and go to sleep at any time, any day. Ahhhh, can you imagine? No wonder he's relaxed!



Sharing with Rebecca's simple things.




Happy Sunday!
Swenja

{the simple things} Halloween witch

Hello everyone - just checking in very briefly. Why, you ask? Well, because it's November. November, folks! And that means I'm right in the middle of my holiday plan - by calendar week, that is. Yep, I have a plan of all the to dos until Christmas, by calendar week. And top priority right now is to complete the second half of our annual family photobook, which is the traditional gift to the grandparents and usually gets sent to the printing service by November.

So, for this week I'm just posting a little picture from Halloween.

Linking up with


























How about you? Anyone else started making gifts and working off their to do list yet? Or am I the only crazy person here?

Cheers,
Swenja

{the simple things} boo!

Things are busy around here, but not so busy that we didn't take the time to carve our pumpkins on Sunday.

Big brother made a cat pumpkin. What else.

Starting with a blank canvas, uh, pumpkin.

Big brother working on his pumpkin.

Hmmm, now what?

Don't you just love pumpkins?

This year I really love the green and white ones, they make the bright flesh really pop.

Daddy helped with the cutting part, much to big brother's disappointment.

Then he started working on his own pumpkin. Can you tell what it's going to be?

Yep. It had too much beer. Lovely. My mom hates it, but I do think it's funny. I mean come on, it's Halloween.

Here's the gang hanging out on the deck, waiting for the dark.

What do your pumpkins look like this year?

Happy Halloween!

Linking up with the simple things sunday.



Swenja

{the simple things} feeding the deer & fun homework assignments

Today was the first day of school after a two-week fall break.

It felt very early this morning. And it also felt very dark this morning. But once we managed to get out of bed, get dressed, have a quick breakfast and make it to school on time, we got rewarded with an absolutely beautiful day. Blue skies and the air warm enough to leave the jacket at home.

The best part? Today's homework assignment was to collect leaves. So what better day to take the boys for a walk, hunting for leaves, feeding the deer along the way and finally manage to take some fall photos this year?

We found some really pretty leaves...

... and some not so shiny ones (which I still like).

The boys fed two big bags of bread to hungry deer.

Well, some of them weren't all that hungry apparently!

Others couldn't get enough.

This one was funny, looking straight at me and posing until I pressed the shutter.

The little one was so cute!

We also found some mushrooms along the way (not so yummy).

Time to head back home, but not without stopping at big brother's best friend's house for an impromptu playdate. They're in the same class, so he and his mom joined us for homework today.

And we worked on that assignment all afternoon... sort of.

Linking up with Rebecca's simple things today. And, as I just noticed, last year feeding the deer was my very first time linking with the simple things sunday! 

Hope you all have a great and sunny week!

Swenja