I have a little catching up to do;)

It has been a while since I have updated my bog so I have a lot to share.
Lately we have had new snow everyday. So I can only say that the snow dominated our lives at the moment. The last few days Martin and I will go to the store with him sitting on a sled and he loves it so much that when we get to the store he tells me that he wants to stay outside on the sled. Now because he is only two I don't think that is a good idea but once in the store he does find some advantages of comming in with mommy ;)
Melanie is snow crazy as well and lays, rolls and play in the snow for as long as she can.



In this picture below Melanie just came out of Kindergarten and was pulling her brother up the hill when the rope slipped out of her hands. But don't worry I was behind Martin and the sled only went backwards a little slowly. I just love this picture of the kids in the bg and Mellie's look on her face.

Sinterklaas is back in spain so it's time to get our home ready for christmas. The kids were so excited about that , so after mom had put all the lights in the tree they did the whole tree decorating themselves. I must say for a 5 and 2 year old they didn't do a bad job.

Here is Melanie after she was finished decorating.

I think our Sinterklaas has the best legs, but he is also very nice and the kids love our little yearly trip to see the old man.

Then last but not least in the last weekend of november I visited my friends and family in Holland. That was really great to see everyone and have lot's of laughs and catching ups! The only pitty was that I was looking forward to making some great pictures of Amsterdam but somehow I didn't get it right. But that will be my big excuse to go again soon ;)

Baking our Christmas ornaments :)

The days are getting shorter and the weather outside cold and rainy. I was stuck with a little flu and was wondering what we could to inside that would make us all happy! Now I happened to remember making breaddough decorations with my mom when I was young. So I went on the internet, found the recipe and got everything ready. With christmas comming around soon I thought it would be fun making christmasdecorations together.

The kids were really good. We were in the kitchen making and baking from 10 in the morning until three thirty in the afternoon. For the first part of that day we started very serious, but after a while things did get silly a little.

I was really happy that this bread is not for consumption :) But although it got wild a little in the end, we did end up with some cute results! In the pictures below you can see some of the stuff we made.

Our camper trip to the Bodensee

Our trip to the Bodensee started early in the morning! Both kids were really supriced that we woke them up when it was still dark but realised right away that we would go on a adventure!
After a couple of hours we arrived in Konstanz at the Bodensee. But because our end destination was on the otherside of this lake we took the ferry.

Our destination for that day was the model expo. Where they have everything from small planes to trains. You can see almost all men with big smiles on their faces and big plastic bags in their hands. Also Martin couldn't take his eyes of all the trucks, cars and trains.

Outside was a little steamtrain where kids could sit on, they both liked that!

The next day we spend a relaxing morning on the lakeside and later that day went to this very cute little zoo.

The kids did like feeding all the animals! Well..., Mellie gave the pop-corn to the animals, Martin had a hard time doing just that. Not because he was afraid of the animals but because he wanted to eat it himself.
But the best of the Zoo for Martin were these little cars. He couldn't get enough of it. Mellie was also a very good and fast driver.

Last week we had our first snow!

Our first snow for this winter! I have no idea how the kids knew but this morning they were already awake at 6 and wanted to look outside to see if the sun was up. Although it was still dark they saw the snow right away and even asked if he could go outside. I told him he needed to wait untill it wasn't dark outside anymore :) When later that day he did get to go outside, he didn't want to come inside anymore. A good thing that kids do get hungry after a while.

School photo's are in!

On the day that the photographer came to Melanie's school, she wanted to look her best. Mellie knew exactly what she wanted to ware and how she wanted her hair. I think that on that day she had put every hairclick she had in her hair. At first I thought she looked a little silly but I do like how the pictures came out :)

One day in the Zoo of Bern

For a few days now we have promised the kids that we would go to the Zoo but everytime something came in between. But not yesturday, even the weather was on our side and we were able to walk outside without our coats on. A perfect that for the zoo.

Because Hans had to work, the kids said they would make pictures for him on the little camera of all animals. Now Mellie started really well with taking picture of every animal she saw but when it was Martins turn to take picture we happend to walk past the contruction side in the middle of the ZOO and heard Martin yell:' STOP!!!! PICTURE!!!. So he took pictures of all the maschines that were there, and of yes also of one big bird that happend to be on the otherside! Boys will be boys, I quess :)

Although the kids really liked looking at all the animals, they totally loved the two playgrounds in the zoo. That's why we have spent most of our time there. But I most say it was really good. We had a great day :)

More construction

As soon as the kids found out that our neighbor was making some small repairs to the road, they went outside to have a closer look. But it didn't stop at just looking though. Only a few seconds later I found both kids with tools in the hand, 'helping' our neighbor.

Happy Birthday Melanie

Both kids knew that today would be a special day. They were up very early and ready to party.

Well, that's what we did. Together with the grandparents and Aunt and cousins we had a fun day. The kids had a great time playing with the new toys and eating cake. I just can't believe that it is already 5 years ago that Melanie was born.

Under contruction

When we were buying our house we were always wondering why our road was called river road. But this weekend it looked like we finally got our answer. Suddendly right in front of our house the water was comming up through the cracks in the street. The waterpipe unter the street was borken so luckly it wasn't a new river starting. That's why monday morning early workmen came to our street with all kinds of maschines. Martin, who was still in his pyjama's at this point couldn't wait to get out side. He even asked me if he could get dressed outside because he was scared he would miss out on the fun :). So after he was dressed we went outside so have a look what the workmen were doing. I was very happy that all got fixed before noon.

Spiezer Market

Every year there is this big market in the center of town the day after the parade! You notice that it's almost market time because some of my neighbors that help out every year usually get a little nervouse and stressed! But like with the parade we had another beautiful day. Mellie and Martin love to look around at all the stuff that is out there. But the most fun they have with the cute little carousel. On our way home we stoped at the supermarket where I got this last funny shot of Martin. Funny little guy!

Spiezer Parade last sunday

The weather was beautiful last sunday. The perfect day for a parade. So after lunch we all got ready to walk into town. It looked like the whole town came to the center. There where so many people. The kid loved it, Martin was mostly happy because there where so many beautiful tractors. But he did think it was funny that all of the trators where decorated with flower.

Jungfrau Marathon

Honestly looking back on this afternoon I couldn't say if it was good or bad but it sure was an experience! Let me tell you. In the beginning of the week my sister in law asked me if Melanie would like to run in the jungfrau childrens run on friday. They have this run every year de day before the big Jungfrau Marathon! So asking Mellie she said she would. So this afternoon I we were ready to start. Melanie had her number and shoes on when she said she changed her mind and doesn't want to run! My thought... , oh noooo!! But we went to the start anyway. My brother in law stook her to the start where they did a warm up and she loved that! Suddendly it all looked a lot better! Then the start! All the kids started running and so did Mellie. All still looked good but before we knew it she turned around an ran right back!!!! Right in the arms of her uncle! Funny little girl!

When Melanie's cousins where finished with their race we went to the playground! There was this great blow up slide where lots of kids were standing in line for. Melanie and Martin really wanted to go on the slide! I wasn't sure about that because it was a really high and big slide! The kids told me that it would be fine. When I was looking at all the little kids that came down, I got more confidend that my kids would come down aswell because there was no kid that refused to go down once they were up there. That was untill my kids went up. Martin just liked it so much up there that he decided to start to play up there. Melanie looked down and gave me this scared 'I am not going down there' look and I knew we were in trouble! Luckly one of the slide assistends went up there and took my kids down!

But at the end of the day everything ended well, the kids were safely down and Melanie got a medaille anyway for bringing back the chip that they use to time her race.