Our musicians

Playing an instrument is no easy-peasy for our girls. The practising every day is responsible for a lot of chagrin in our house. But when I ask whether the girls want to stop playing, they say they don't. Last sunday they played in a string-orchestra for the first time. Practise all day and a performance for the parents in the end of the afternoon. These moments completely make up for all those annoying ones! Goosebumps, seeing two daughters play there. To pass time during the day, A and I went into the city of Eindhoven and discovered a wonderful lunchroom called 'onder de leidingstraat'.

Ten!

We have two teenagers now. Our youngest reached the age of 10 last week. And although modest in size herself, her wishlist becomes longer every year: earrings, eau de toilette, clothes, make-up bag, make-up, preferably a horse, pony camp, candy, topmodel colouring books, riding clothes for matches, felt tips, pencils, a flight to Thailand, doll or barbie, money (more than my sister has got), schoolbag, books, plants for my bedroom, games, chocolate, high heels, cinnamon cake, lime cake and go to an old church filled with trampolines for my birthday party. Many of her wishes were fulfilled, but I think you can guess which ones weren't.

Twelve

Twelve! So fast. Last week we signed her up for the secondary school of her choice. It means 25 km op cycling every day, but she wants this. Strong-willed as ever. Luckily we have some time left to get used to the idea. For now we celebrate her birthday. Have a lovely day, sweet J.

Twelve

Not a creative, but a sportive birthday-party for both the girls this year. J has chosen to go wall-climbing. She drew a climbing girl and from that drawing we tinkered an invite. When you pull the cords aside, the girl climbs upward. Tutorial here.

Virtual reality

Normally I have to persuade the girls to come to a museum. This time they themselves asked to go to the Moti in Breda. In a magazine they had seen that you could experience minecraft with Oculus rift over there. Good choice. The different virtual worlds (not for me, got queasy right away) and the exhibitions were fun. Afterwards we had lunch at 'in Kannen en Kruiken'. Good food in a stylish environment. Highly recommended!

Tech and art

We had a great afternoon in Amsterdam yesterday. The girls went to the Youtech-party in Nemo. You tech is a site and a free magazine full of technical news, facts and gadgets for kids. Our eldest is always excited when the magazine falls in the mailbox. The party lasted all afternoon and in the meantime A and I went to the Hermitage. I wanted to see the Spanish masters, but happened to like the portrait gallery of the golden age more. Around five we went back to join the last part op the party on top of the roof of Nemo. There the kids helped forming an artwork of light by artist Dorette Sturm. And what a great view on the city!

Marbled miniatures

While our family-christmas-cards will become new years wishes, for lack of time, our daughters' cards are ready. She used marble paint to colour small (10x7cm) pieces of paper and folded them in half. In some of the marble-prints we discovered hidden animals and brought them out with a fineliner. Today she took them to school, for all girls and boys in her class. And for the teacher.

Proud 2

Winning isn't everything. But it is fun and good for your self-confidence. Especially when your sister has won something the other day. Now N is a winner too. A friend told her about a design-your-own-bookmarker contest from Gianotten printed media and N did her colourful best. With good result. Now she has gotten 100 bookmarkers with her design to hand out to her friends.

Proud, of course!

The First Leo League is such a wonderful opportunity to teach kids skills that bring them further in life. All over the world 233.000 children are learning how to program robots, how to set up a research project and lift it to a higher level by working together as a team. All kids between 9 and 16 (sometimes 14) can create a team and take part. J was in a schoolteam (of 10 and 11 year olds) again. This year the theme was 'waste'. Her team decided to reduce waste by developing alternatives for regular plastic candy wraps in stores. Their robot was quite simple, but efficient. So scores were pretty high. And guess what... They won the first prize (of 30 teams)! Now they're off to the Benelux-final on january 30th.

Visit and vote!

After many weeks of painting and educational visits, the final works of the New Vincents were ready to be presented to the public. Last wednesday it was opening night of their exhibition in the Noordbrabants Museum. All those proud faces! Including ours, of course. The picture on the right shows our daughter being interviewed for the local tv-station. You can visit the exposition until january 3rd and vote for the winner of the public price. I would suggest voting for the mindscape on the left (but I'm not completely unbiased).

As the twig is bent the tree is inclined

The girls were sitting, like groupies, in the first row to see Bas Haring in the Natuurhistorisch Museum in Rotterdam yesterday. A philosopher who likes to bring philosophy closer to the people. Our kids know him by listening to 'de junior beta canon'. The last one is a set of cd's about the main themes of science (nano-technology, electro-magnetism, hygiene, mobility, etc) made accessible to elementary school kids. Would make a nice Sinterklaas-gift. Our eldest listens to the cd's every night, before falling asleep. You could say she's a fan. And I must say, I also like to listen to the stories when played in the car. J. took her cd-cover to have it autographed, but unfortunately didn't dare to ask for it in the end. Despite the ladies liked the lecture and Bas a lot.

Veiled cat

Last friday it was halloween disco night again, for the 10, 11 and 12-year-olds in the village. When J. saw this lacy cat on my laptop, she said that's what she wanted for the party. Pretty easy to put together and with simple black clothes a stylish costume. Also wearable with the veil in the back, when it annoys in the face. She and her friends still didn't stay until the end, but no drama's like the first time anymore. Our second daughter (9) is another cup of tea, she can't understand why the girls wouldn't want to stay until the end. We know we will never have to pick this girl up before closing. N. can't wait till next year.

Code event

We, husband and I, are always complaining about the alpha-oriented education given in school. Alpha is fine, but for making a substantiated choice for their future, kids should get some beta input too. So we grab the opportunities that come along to show our girls that there's more. Yesterday our youngest went to a workshop in coding at the University of Technology in Eindhoven, organised by Digivita. She took a friend and they came back very enthusiastic. "It was fun and not difficult at all". They got to meet robot Nao, see Oculus rift and worked with Mindstorms. But the girls' favourite activity was building a piano with play dough, mandarins, a banana and the Makey makey-kit. I'll have to tell Sinterklaas that N would appreciate a kit like that.

Daughters design

Our youngest selected the ribbons and the model of the bag. Made a design and gave it to her mother. And since mom certainly wants to stimulate all creativity, she quickly followed up on the instructions. When finished the girl was happy and proud, in spite of the jeans being darker than she had meant.

Oasis

More culture: while our youngest enjoyed a two-day horse riding camp, the rest of the family payed a visit to the Matisse exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Although there was some resistance in the beginning, our young guest is obviously not used to visiting exhibitions, towards the end she became fascinated by the clippings and collages. We looked at the works closely and made our own collages at home. So it was a inspirational exhibition for all of us. And in the end, the french girl knows a bit more about french art history.

Two-in-one

Last friday we went to 'my' Noordbrabants museum and the neighbouring Sm-s. Both museums offer free workshops for kids during summer. On friday there's 'showringen en zaagkettingen' (show-rings and sow-necklaces), which refers to the Benhard Schobinger exhibition. After a short introduction there, it was hands on. The girls loved making their own 'bijoux fou'. On the left, the ladies behind an amazing artwork of Georgia Russell (till 30/8).

Leonore the lamb

Seeing the doudou for our logee, J asked if she could make one for herself too. From the choice of pattern (enlarged 150%) from Doudous a coudre and selection of fabrics to the sewing, she all did it herself, with only some instructions from the side. Well done, I would say.

Holiday idea

While our eldest spent her time at the Summerschool Junior of Utrecht University, I took the other two girls to the Ontdekhoek. On arrival it didn't look very spectacular, but it really appeared to be a fantastic place. A great number of diy-activities for kids and adults (as long as they don't explain things to the children): making your own spoon, booklet, photo, boats, dikes, fries (from the start), street organ music, soap, coins etc. We were there for four hours and just half way all options. A good reason to go back another time.

Agrandissement de la famille

Our temporary third daughter (via Europa Kinderhulp) has arrived. All goes well. Actually very good, I must say. She came on saturday and settled in easily. On sunday we went to the beach. Searching for shells, crabs and fossils appeared to be a perfect way to break the ice. After three days our youngest is already using some french words during their play. Amazing how this happens. It's already a wonderful experience for all of us.

For our (almost) teenagers

Finally fisnished, our lounge corner. Leftover wood from the fence (proud, that I even made the wooden bed myself), leftover paint from this price (ugly color but blends in perfectly), a baby mattress from the girls, our nephews todler mattress and N's old mattress in three parts. The mattresses are covered in quilted fabric, using this tutorial. Ikea frabrics, except from the lower one. I bought that one at Van Marieke. The girls love their new hang-out! So do I!