Sinterklaas

 

We celebrated Sinterklaas (google it if you have no idea what I am talking about!) this past weekend. It was a small affair with about 30 kids in attendance. Elizabeth and J attended last year, but I had other obligations. So this was my first real Dutch Sinterklaas celebration.

 

 

The event is well organized. First there was singing while waiting for the arrival of Sinterklaas and the zwarte Pieten (the helpers of Sinterklaas).

They arrive! We had a Paarse Piet and a Blaue Piet (to stay politically correct) at our party. The Zwarte Piet has come under attack in recent years as being racist.

Singing for Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas talked with each child, using the information provided by parents beforehand. When he talked to Sarah about the fact that she likes to sing – she responded by singing a solo of “Dag Sinterklaasje” (her favorite Sinterklaas song). Very sweet!

We tell our girls that Sinterklaas is a man who lived a long time ago and the person they see is just a man dressed up. But at their age the knowledge of the truth does not take away from the magic of the experience!

Receiving their presents from the Paarse Piet.

A Perfect Afternoon

The girls and I go to the German Colony Neighborhood (where we first lived, so the memories are many!) each Tuesday afternoon for a children’s music class. For various reasons, today we got there an hour earlier than necessary. Thankfully I had the foresight to think ahead, and I put the girls’ bikes in the trunk of our car. The area behind our first apartment, formerly an abandoned, overgrown train track, has been transformed into a lovely walking and biking path that now stretches for many miles across the city landscape. A perfect playground for children!

Elizabeth has perfected the art of riding a balance bike. The long, straight path was like a bit of heaven for her!

 

This picture captures Sarah’s enthusiasm at spotting “her letter” – by which she really means “her number”.

The afternoon sun provided us with extra long shadows.

A shadow portrait that includes the huge leaf found along the way!

The grins say it all (Sarah’s is hidden by the shadow). It was a perfect afternoon!

Recent Pictures

Tonight I downloaded pictures from the camera to my computer. I thought I would share some of our recent happenings.

Pre-church hymn sing.

Pre-breakfast card game.

Our enthusiastic readers

Reading to Job, our friend and neighbor.

Post-nap cuddles. I treasure these moments!

Our Very Own Orange Harvest

We have four citrus trees in our garden. We had thought they were all lemon trees, but when the fruit recently turned orange on two of the trees we realized we had assumed wrong!

Yesterday we harvested our oranges. Sarah and Job were really enthusiastic about the task!

Our harvest! We had two types – sweet juice oranges and small mandarins. We made juice out of the big ones and ate the littler ones for dessert with our evening meal.

And I do promise that one day (hopefully soon) I will post more pictures of our new home and garden. We are loving the outdoor space and our cozy little home!

Enthusiasm

Sarah does everything with great passion!

Snapshots from Today

I want to get back into the habit of posting a picture from each day to record our daily life. So here’s today’s episode!

This morning Sarah was J’s apprentice as he did some preparation for some electrical work he is doing in our apartment. You can learn colors when doing so many types of activities!

Who doesn’t love a pile of colorful crayons, especially when most of them are still new and have the sharp points?! This is how the girls entertained themselves while I prepared dinner this evening.