Yesterday it was Manure Day at the allotment. A farmer came round twice with a cartload full of poo. Poo mixed with straw, the perfect stuff for good soil, but oh my, does it smell! (Although poo diapers are worse!) Even though the day started a bit overcast and drizzly, it got beautiful later on in the morning, and we had a lovely time shoveling shit (haha) and ‘breaking in’ our shed. Yes, we got the key!!! This means the kids now have a dry place to sit and play whenever we’re there and they’ve had enough of the garden and of digging around…
Piccies!

Playing with poo, great fun!

A happy and satisfied farmer boy

The front of our allotment, with all the little sheds and the path going round the complex

Our shed, now still called 'Bijna', soon to be renamed to 'Mossalot'

Crap photo, great view. In the foreground our little growing box, which needs some cleaning and renovating in the spring

And now it’s too late. Our little bunny Kaatje passed away last Sunday, in her sleep. We came home from town and found her in the rabbit hutch. We suspect she had an ulcer, but of course, no post-mortem will be carried out… Here is Kaatje, squinting away at the sun, in her favourite spot in the hutch.

Kaatje, 2003-2009

We were a bit busy. Doing this…

Older, wiser and definitely a bit heavier we are looking back on 10 great years, and are wishing for a lot more to come!!!

We hadn’t posted any pictures of the new allotment, so here we go! It’s still a loooong way from finished, so a full tour will follow in spring, when everything looks cool and clean and ready! At least now we have space to put down some chairs, and as soon as we get the keys to the shed, also a place to put our stuff, so we don’t have to load up the car every time we go to do a bit of hoeing.
Our new domain:

Feet up

Aaargggh! There's treasure buried her! (ie bulbs)

Our little farmer tiger having a ball!

First, we make sure our hair and makeup looks right:

Hair and makeup

Then, we read the program, so that we know what’s coming up:

Reading up

And we try to get in first:

The big crush

In the interval, it’s time to think over what we just saw:

Relaxxxxx

And afterwards, we complement the artist on a job well done!

Dirk Scheele

Yes, Sam and Amy went to see Dirk Scheele (and band) sing loads of cool songs about Dikkie Dik, a big orange cat with attitude. It was great! They had front row seats, so were close to the action. Sam loved it, and is definitely up for another theatre visit But first, it’s Hannah’s turn again. As a true Annie MG Schmidt fan, she’s going to see ‘Tante Patent’ this Friday. Looking forward to it!

Whenever a little boy turns 3, one party isn’t enough. Three is about right!!! So, we started out with party 1 at home, when we unwrapped his presents and blew out the candles on his birthday cake…

That's a big one!!!

Proper stuff for Sam the Builder

Smile!

A strange-looking, but yummy cake. Just call it Dali Mickey...

At daycare, handing out his treats!

All the kids sing for Sam

More presents, a cool rescue chopper!

Hanneke also came to drop off a present

The Thomas draw bridge and Cranky (not pictured)

Party 2: Joshja, Shanara, Hester and Marit dropped by, and later on, we also got a short visit from Destin and Ebony (and all their moms)… Not really good piccies, we were too busy fetching coffee, cake, sweets, and having fun chatting and clearing up after the little uns…

Hester, Hannah, Marit and Sam

Shanara and Joshja and their moms. To the left is Ingrid, Shanara's mom, who is 31w pregnant with twins!

And party 3! With the ‘Vrienzinnen’, Amy’s group of friends – a combined birthday for Sam, Ruben and Marije. Again, more chatting than picture taking

Sam playing with Simone en Ruben

With Ruben and Yestin, opening presents: loads-a-cars!

Sam has been horribly spoilt with cars, trains, books, and more. Thanks to everyone! Even though he was a bit ill, he enjoyed last week and all the partying very much!!!!

Last night, we took Hannah to her first concert. Not a kiddy girly band, not a musically dancy thing, no, the real thing: Marillion! The band often called ‘a Scottish heavy metal band’* was playing in our hometown, and as Steve is fan No. 1, that was one we couldn’t miss! As it was an ‘acoustic’ sit-down concert, it was a great opportunity to get Hannah to see the band, as she is almost a bigger fan than her daddy!
We were all wearing the T-shirts (Amy even got a proper women’s size one later on) and had a great night. Steve was clapping so hard and so long, the band even sang a song especially for him: Easter, which nearly had all of us in tears…
Afterwards, Steve went off to the pub with some other fans, and we cycled home to have cake, and end a perfect day!!!

Smile! You're on camera!

Some Dutch courage??? And see the shirt? It's FAMOUS now!!!

* which they are not, it’s prog-rock, people… tssss….

Yes, she arrived!!! On Sam’s birthday we woke up to the news that Amy’s sister had been admitted to hospital with high blood pressure and that her water had been broken. It was a very exciting day, and we kept an eye on our phones and mobiles while partying with Sam (more on that later). Then late in the afternoon, the good news came:

FAMKE

had arrived!!! After a good labour and a few hours of good hard work, Gerbrich and Michiel became the proud parents of a precious girl!

We will be posting a picture here as soon as we’ve been to see the new family! As Sam is still ill, he won’t be able to come, so it will probably be Amy and Hannah who will do the first honours.