Seeing as it was gorgeous weather on Saturday, we decided to load the car and head to Schoorl. We stopped by the beach first for the afternoon. Had dinner on the beach. I wanted to take photos of the kids on the beach with sunlight coming from behind. So had a tiny photoshoot. And then stayed the night in our house in Schoorl. Sunday wasn't the best day, weatherwise. But that's okay. We hung around a bit during the morning. In the early afternoon I left the rest of the family behind. And went to pick up a girlfriend and took her for high tea in the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam. That was DELICIOUS!!!  And so much fun to just sit and talk and relax.

Here are some of my favorite photos from on the beach.

All photos are SOOC.  Although I'm really getting to know my camera, I still have to learn photoshop.

xxx, H.

Seeing as it was gorgeous weather on Saturday, we decided to load the car and head to Schoorl. We stopped by the beach first for the afternoon. Had dinner on the beach. I wanted to take photos of the kids on the beach with sunlight coming from behind. So had a tiny photoshoot. And then stayed the night in our house in Schoorl. Sunday wasn't the best day, weatherwise. But that's okay. We hung around a bit during the morning. In the early afternoon I left the rest of the family behind. And went to pick up a girlfriend and took her for high tea in the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam. That was DELICIOUS!!!  And so much fun to just sit and talk and relax.

Here are some of my favorite photos from on the beach.

All photos are SOOC.  Although I'm really getting to know my camera, I still have to learn photoshop.

xxx, H.

sooooo….guess it's time for an update.

 
Valentin is doing great in school! He had three weeks of school and then two weeks holiday. Now he's back. And he loves it! Has to get used to the rhythm again..getting up on time etc. But I'm so happy that he's enjoying it. During the holidays he saw quite a few classmates and they all greeted him with lots of enthusiasm.

 
The bathroom upstairs is done! Well, the drawers in the washbasin/cabinet have to be adjusted. But it's done!!! And it looks gorgeous…if I may say so myself.

 
Dominique and I had our yearly girls'trip to Alton Towers in England last week. We both love rollarcoasters and this was such an awesome themepark for our trip. We took 37 rides in a full two-day timeframe. Fridayafternoon, though, my back said it was taking a break.   I love these trips for no other reason than spending one-on-one time with my daughter. Patrick has his yearly trips with Pascal, but I'm wanting to spend some one-on-one with Pascal as well.

 
Since Valentin is in school, I have decided to spend some more time getting back into shape. I got myself a Personal Trainer at the gym twice a week.  I could go myself, but I know for a fact that after a month, I'd start making up excuses not to go. And now, someone is waiting for me (to come torture myself, hahaha) and I have no excuse to call him to say I can't make it. He's also told me to start eating little bits 7 or 8 x a day instead of the two times I used to. I've only gained weight so far. But he's says that's normal. And even though I've gained a pound, I feel heaps better already!

I've also started playing tennis more often. At least twice a week, sometimes three. So yeah, I'm all the sporty woman now LOL.

And I feel that I'm not as grumpy with the kids as I used to be. (they might attest to that, though).

 
 
Dominique and her two friends decided to sell lots of stuff at the sales during Queens' Day. And the whole of the profit went to World Wildlife Fund. I'm so proud of them!

 
Pascal is doing great in school. Has quite a lot of friends. Goes to the movies a lot with them. I keep asking him when he's gonna ask some friends over. But I guess that's the next step in his re-learning of social interaction.

 
 
I'm 3/4 of the way through my photography course. I'm not there yet, but feel that I, at least, know how to use my camera manually now. And I know more of what I'm doing.

 
We had a weekend getaway, over Easter,  with Patrick's oma, who turned 94! Wohooo, congrats oma! The weather was awesome. We were able to sit outside with all 26 of us the whole weekend. Took some great shots.

 
Patrick is very busy with the last touches to his novel. It will be released on June 17th! Pretty proud of him for doing this. But I must say, that I'll be happy when it's done… we'll have him "back".

 
My beautiful mama turned 65 and we had a restaurant dinner with the whole family (minus Jiska and the girls). Thank you, mama, for being just the person you are! Love you heaps!!!

that's it for now.

xxx, H.

sooooo….guess it's time for an update.

 
Valentin is doing great in school! He had three weeks of school and then two weeks holiday. Now he's back. And he loves it! Has to get used to the rhythm again..getting up on time etc. But I'm so happy that he's enjoying it. During the holidays he saw quite a few classmates and they all greeted him with lots of enthusiasm.

 
The bathroom upstairs is done! Well, the drawers in the washbasin/cabinet have to be adjusted. But it's done!!! And it looks gorgeous…if I may say so myself.

 
Dominique and I had our yearly girls'trip to Alton Towers in England last week. We both love rollarcoasters and this was such an awesome themepark for our trip. We took 37 rides in a full two-day timeframe. Fridayafternoon, though, my back said it was taking a break.   I love these trips for no other reason than spending one-on-one time with my daughter. Patrick has his yearly trips with Pascal, but I'm wanting to spend some one-on-one with Pascal as well.

 
Since Valentin is in school, I have decided to spend some more time getting back into shape. I got myself a Personal Trainer at the gym twice a week.  I could go myself, but I know for a fact that after a month, I'd start making up excuses not to go. And now, someone is waiting for me (to come torture myself, hahaha) and I have no excuse to call him to say I can't make it. He's also told me to start eating little bits 7 or 8 x a day instead of the two times I used to. I've only gained weight so far. But he's says that's normal. And even though I've gained a pound, I feel heaps better already!

I've also started playing tennis more often. At least twice a week, sometimes three. So yeah, I'm all the sporty woman now LOL.

And I feel that I'm not as grumpy with the kids as I used to be. (they might attest to that, though).

 
 
Dominique and her two friends decided to sell lots of stuff at the sales during Queens' Day. And the whole of the profit went to World Wildlife Fund. I'm so proud of them!

 
Pascal is doing great in school. Has quite a lot of friends. Goes to the movies a lot with them. I keep asking him when he's gonna ask some friends over. But I guess that's the next step in his re-learning of social interaction.

 
 
I'm 3/4 of the way through my photography course. I'm not there yet, but feel that I, at least, know how to use my camera manually now. And I know more of what I'm doing.

 
We had a weekend getaway, over Easter,  with Patrick's oma, who turned 94! Wohooo, congrats oma! The weather was awesome. We were able to sit outside with all 26 of us the whole weekend. Took some great shots.

 
Patrick is very busy with the last touches to his novel. It will be released on June 17th! Pretty proud of him for doing this. But I must say, that I'll be happy when it's done… we'll have him "back".

 
My beautiful mama turned 65 and we had a restaurant dinner with the whole family (minus Jiska and the girls). Thank you, mama, for being just the person you are! Love you heaps!!!

that's it for now.

xxx, H.

my mind kept churning…over and over again!!!

Because this little dude
started Kindergarden today.

Is he going to like it? Will his teacher be nice? Will he make friends (and will they be acceptable in my eyes?) He's just been potty-trained for two weeks…will he make the toilet on time?  Can I let him go?

I've been looking forward to this for months, for more me-time, for some more peace and quiet. But now that it's here, I want to keep him at home!  I mean, he's my baby! the Last One!!!  And he's so small!  And he's so much fun to have around. 

And it's so quiet now!!! (she said typing with tears in her eyes)

Let me add that he did awesome this morning…I had to wake him up (due to Daylight Savings Time). I told him that we had to get him dressed because he was going to the "Vuurvogel" today. He started smiling and saying 'yes, yes, yes' and wiggling to get out of bed. And then Pascal left for school and then Dominique left for school. And he couldn't go yet, because his school starts 15 minutes later than hers. He kept saying "I wanna go NOW".

He ran into the school, saw a mother of his friend at daycare, said ''HI''  passing by, took off his coat and almost skipped into the classroom. Started playing. Said Hi to the teacher. And when it was time for us (yes Patrick and I both took him to school) to leave, he pulled up a chair to sit in the circle around the teacher. Didn't want a kiss, and sat smiling at the other kids. Didn't even wave as we watched from the window.

I held my head up high as I left school. But am having a little trouble getting it together now. I know he'll do great, though.   (but he's still so small!)

xxx, H.

yes found my mojo. It came back with the sun!

This last Monday, Dominique and I went to a Taylor Swift concert!!! It was so much fun! Especially seeing how the girl was enjoying the concert! She kept on filming with her own camera and taking photos. I didn't take my camera, because camera's with detachable lenses aren't allowed in and I didn't want to leave it there with security.  I'll have to ask Dominique if I can have her photos on my computer as well. That way I can blog about it and of course do a scrapbook page or two.

that's it for now again, have to go pick up Valentin from daycare.

xxx, H.

yes found my mojo. It came back with the sun!

This last Monday, Dominique and I went to a Taylor Swift concert!!! It was so much fun! Especially seeing how the girl was enjoying the concert! She kept on filming with her own camera and taking photos. I didn't take my camera, because camera's with detachable lenses aren't allowed in and I didn't want to leave it there with security.  I'll have to ask Dominique if I can have her photos on my computer as well. That way I can blog about it and of course do a scrapbook page or two.

that's it for now again, have to go pick up Valentin from daycare.

xxx, H.

I almost chickened out, but I am sooooo happy that I pulled through!!!
 

couldn't get in the plane!

 take off!
 

how are your nerves holding up?

shit! I don't want to do this!!!  I just saw three guys jump out of the plane and their speed…eeeek

come on! you can do it!

view from the door!
 

 oh god, there we go! eyes closed!
 

shit, shit, shit….this is SCARY!!!
 

 and we're falling!!!
 

wohooo….this is AWESOME!!!! (as soon as we fell out the plane, I wasn't scared anymore) What a total awesome feeling of floating in the sky. We jumped at 9.000 feet (almost 3 km) for a freefall of 30 secs. I actually didn't even noticed we were falling at a speed of 200 km/hour.
 

wheeee…..this is fun!
 
 

he thought I was yelling too loud! haha  you can't even hear it on the film. Thumbs up!
 

can you see me enjoying this?!!!
 

there goes the parachute! yes…it opened!
 

and UP went my legs!!!
 
 

look at that awesome view of earth!
 

I'm the one with the yellow parachute!
 

getting ready for landing….what ALREADY???  I'm not ready yet! I could stay up in the air forever!
 

legs up so that he can land.
 

and we're back on solid ground.
 

wow, that was awesome!!! Danny asked what was the best part…I answered "Definitely the freefall"!!!
 

thanks for that incredible experience!!!
 

And there you have it folks!

Thank you, Patrick, for giving me this! And for putting up with my rollarcoaster ride of emotions on Friday and Saturday! love ya!

xxx, H.

I've been scrapping a bit the last few weeks. Nothing really creative, because I've been copying lots of other people's work. Hopefully in the new year, I'll get my mojo back for creating my own stuff again. I'm expecting alot of new goodies in a few weeks, so that'll help as well.

And I just finished this one today! Inspired by the Anthropologie windowdisplay in New York in October:

I also did another painting, this time for my mother-in-law, who wanted a painting with a peony for their new apartment.

I finished my New York Travel Journal.

 
these aren't even ALL the pages!   just a small impression!

And I've been looking into photography workshops. I'm still waiting on some information. But it looks like I'll be starting a course in Febuary. To learn how to use my camera only manually…I really want to get out of that automode and start taking photos instead of snapsnots.

I was thinking about this for a loooong time, but what really kicked my butt in gear is where we're headed for vacation in the summer. And I really want the best photos!  Because it's not a place where you can head back to any time soon to redo your shots.  We're going to Bali and Java!!!! Can't wait!

Another cool thing:  I'm going parachute diving this Saturday!!!    I am kinda scared…excited but scared.  But I'm sure I'm gonna be thrilled and over the moon when I get back on my own two feet.

ETA: Parachutejump won't be happening this Saturday due to bad weather!   We'll try again on the 22nd.

that's it for now.

xxx, H.

As has been tradition for the last 6 years, we had the Hoendiep Open again on New Year's Day. The Hoendiep Open is a fun night at our house, where the men play billiards, the women gab and wine (not whine) . And this year we rented a pinballmachine for the kids. Mostly neighbors come and a few friends. And well, our neighbors are our friends as well!

This year there were around 25 people! and it was sooooo much fun!  And it was sooooo late when I finally got to bed…..3.30 a.m. (the evening started at 8.00 p.m.)  But I'm definitely not complaining!

It was an awesome start to the New Year!  Wishing everyone a fantastic 2011 with loads of fun, love and laughter.

xxx, H.