Monday, December 28, 2009

Nieko 6 months!


Nieko is 6 months today. We can't believe how fast it's going. I know that sounds really cliche, but it's really true. He just got his first tooth yesterday! He did pretty good with it, except he cried during most of church yesterday. He then chewed on my watch, which I think felt good for him. He's such a sweet baby and is very content. He's still not interested in any solid food, but we're in no hurry. As long as he's happy & healthy!


This was Tys' expression when we let the rabbit in the house!


We bought a nice hutch for Fiona (yes that's the rabbits name...) And she currently lives in our dining room... temporarily... I hope..


Tys gets his little chair and sits by her and plays with her. He loves it!


Last night we exchanged our Christmas presents! It was so much fun and we all got great gifts!



Beppe had bought all the grandsons matching PJ's! How fun!
From left to right; Arie (3), Gideon & Tys (21 months), Logan (18 months), Nieko and Ioan (5 months)




Nieko and Ioan!


Moriah with her two cousins


Nieko got tractors!




Tys got this beautiful rocking horse. He loves it! You should have seen his face when he opened his gift, he was sooooo excited!



Gideon got this little fourwheeler! And Logan got a loader. They were all so excited! And they all wanted to play with each others gifts.... I bet you can imagine how that went!

We hope you all had a great Christmas! Have a healthy and blessed 2010! We hope you enjoy reading our blog, feel free to leave a comment anytime! We would love to see who all reads our blog!



Friday, December 25, 2009

Rudi and Tys' Christmas present



This gift was supposed to be for Rudi, but Tys loves it too!

Merry Christmas!


Such a special time!
We're having a great day so far. Rudi's parents and Justin and Siska and Logan came over for breakfast, it was so much fun. Now Rudi is working for just a little bit. And when he's done we're going to make dessert for tonight! We're all going over to Rudi's parents to have dinner. I have the potatoes cooking right now. And the boys are taking their nap.

We hope you all have a very special Christmas with family and friends!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Winter wonder land

Hi!

We've had two sick little boys these past couple of days! Nieko had croup, and Tys had some kind of virus. Thankfully no flu! Nieko is all better, and the croup wasn't that bad. Tys still has a little bit of a diaper rash, but the doctor gave us some special ointment to put on, and it's doing much better! It's no fun when he's in pain, when we had to change his diaper! It hurt him so bad.
I started feeling sick too! On Saturday the family came over and we ate pizza, and just visited, but after they were all gone, I started feeling kind of sicky. Everything was kind of hurting and I didn't feel like eating anything. So I went to bed early and we stayed home from church, and by Sunday afternoon I felt pretty much normal again! I don't know what was wrong with me, but I'm sure glad it didn't last any longer! I don't know how moms do it when they get sick?

I sent out all of our Christmas cards on Monday, so if you don't get one anytime soon, and you would like one, please leave your address in a comment, or email me; annedewinkle@hotmail.com, and I'll be glad to send you one!

We've had quite a bit of snow here, but now it's all melting, and the rest of this week is going to be around 40F, so no more snow for now! I love the snow, but I don't like it when it starts melting, because it's really messy!

Well, I think that's about everything that's new here!


Nieko, practicing sitting up in the highchair. We tried a couple of times to feed him some cereal, but he's not quite ready for it yet.


Tys, being tired


Nieko rolled from his back to his tummy last week, and just this morning he went from tummy to back! YAY!


Tys in his daddy's shoes!


The beautiful snow.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

It's the season!!!


Well, the Christmas season is definitely here!
We got a beautiful tree on Saturday.
Tys loves it!
We've had the first snow on Monday morning. The view from our house is just so pretty!



Saturday night after hanging the lights in the tree. Tys "helped" too!

The beautiful "white blanket" outside our house!


Tys played in the snow for the first time! It only lasted about 3 minutes!



We had a bake-day on Monday, together with Siska, Miriam and mom we baked lots of goodies! It was a lot of fun!


We put the sheets with cookies on the table to cool off, Logan found them and decided to eat the biggest one! This is how I "caught" him! Thankfully they were cooled off enough!


Dutch couple, pretty huh?


Gideon enjoying a cookie!


Even Nieko liked it! His first cookie!


Tys is very happy with the tree!


Unfortunately Nieko and Moriah have croup.. poor babies. Even though he's sick, he's still a happy baby!


Thursday, December 3, 2009

Dutch tradition in December - Sinterklaas!

Saint Nicholas (Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος , Agios ["saint"] Nikolaos ["victory of the people"]) (270 - 6 December 346) is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra (Demre, in Lycia, part of modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose English name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as is common for early Christian saints.[2] In 1087, his relics were furtively translated to Bari, in southern Italy; for this reason, he is also known as Nicholas of Bari.


"A Thoroughly Dutch Family Holiday" Sinterklaas is celebrated in the Netherlands on December 5. It is a thoroughly Dutch family holiday where children are treated to gifts and adults spring surprises and compose humorous poems about each other. At its core is a bishop from 3rd-century Turkey who is buried in Italy, but children believe he lives is Spain.

Walk through the streets of a Dutch town in early December and you are very likely to run across a dignified old fellow with a long white beard, wearing a mitre on his head and a red cape, accompanied by exotically dressed jet-black assistants. You will probably even encounter this unusual group several times and you may even see several such brightly colored groups at a time.
Is it carnival time? No, but it's definitely a holiday. Sint-Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas), popularly known as Sinterklaas, is the protagonist of the most popular and most Dutch of Dutch holidays. His holiday is celebrated on the eve of the 5th of December, the evening before the holy man's death. Sinterklaas is the ultimate family holiday and it is all about the presents distributed on the saint's behalf.
The presents make it even more of a holiday for shopkeepers. Every year, Dutch households spend an average of 130 euro on Sinterklaas gifts, and this combined with Christmas (in Holland, December 25 and 26) and New Year's Eve makes December the highlight of the year for merchants.
Young children are firmly convinced that Sinterklaas really does exist. Fearful and trembling, they await what will happen on the holiday evening, because the most imposing holy man is good to good children but strict to naughty ones. 'Those who are good get sweets, those who are naughty get the rod' (Wie zoet is krijgt lekkers, wie stout is de roe), says one of the countless Sinterklaas songs heard continually in homes and schools during this time. According to folklore, the naughtiest are taken away in the burlap sack in which Sinterklaas brings presents. The fact that this never happens is a secret kept with remarkable discipline by adults and older children.
The sinterklaas mood is in full effect in the weeks before December 5. Festive lighting hangs in the streets and shop windows are full of traditional treats: gingerbread nuts (pepernoten), chocolate initials (chocolade letters), Speculaas (spiced biscuits), chewy gingerbread and marzipan.
Sinterklaas has had tougher competition from Father Christmas. About ten years ago, more and more Dutch people turned to the jovial benefactor from the North Pole who is modelled on Sinterklaas. For a while, it was feared that one of the Netherlands' most beautiful traditions had had it's day, but it was not so: in time, most recognised Father Christmas as a third-rate imitator.
For children, the time before Sinterklaas is a feast in itself. They place their show by the chimney, leaving a carrot or some hay in it for the saint's hore, and with a little luck they may do this several times. According to the tradition, the holy man rides over the rooftops on a grey horse, dropping gifts through the chimney into the shoes. The fact that many modern homes do not have chimneys and shoes are placed near a radiator has not yet fazed a single child.
But there's something in it for adults too, and how! By means of surprises - unusual gifts wrapped in imaginitive ways - and the humurous poems included with the presents, they freely make gentle fun of each other. Not all the Dutch are talented poets, of course, but made-to-order rhymes can be ordered on the internet, honouring and chastising family members, loved ones and even bosses and other superiors for their good and bad sides in a way that is unthinkable in everyday life. The Dutch get things off their chest in the name of Sinterklaas, making a thourougly Dutch tradition out of the feast of a holy man.

(from "The Dutch, I presume", by Martijn de Rooi)




So, my family in Holland just celebrated Sinterklaas this past weekend. They did it a little early, because it's hard to get everybody together since the family is pretty big. And this way they can all have Sinterklaas eve with their own "little" families. Plus it was my mom's birthday, so they celebrated that too.
In our family we always draw names. And we make a "surprise" and a poem for the person you have. It's always a lot of fun and a BIG MESS afterwards. If you don't know yet, I come from a pretty rowdy family. They usualy come up with the funniest surprises and poems. My mom emailed me some of the poems, and they were hilarious.
One year, I got a candy-tree, because I like candy so much. My sister got a huge sugar scoop, made out of metal one year, because she used to like sugar a lot! My mom's present, one year, was inside a box with a mouse in it, she is scared of mice! I used to work at a fish restaurant, so one year my presents was in between a bunch of fish... it stank bad!

My nieces and nephews get so excited for Sinterklaas' arrival every year. My old home in Holland is by a canal. Sinterklaas arrives on a boat in this canal every year. So all the kids and grandkids usually gather at my mom and dad's house and wait there for Sinterklaas. It's usually really cold! The kids like to dress up as "zwarte piet" (=Black Pete, I'll explain later). And they make drawings for Sinterklaas. In return the Pieten will give them lots of candy and pepernoten. (You'll hear lots of kids yell; PIET, PIET!!!!)
Me and my siblings used to put our shoes by the fireplace every Saturday night in November. The next morning we got up super early to see if Sinterklaas had come and brought a gift! And, of course, there was always something! But if we had been naughty we would get a little bag with salt, don't ask me why, that's just what Sinterklaas did. (maybe my mom and dad couldn't afford to get us a present...?) Sometimes, on Sunday morning, the whole living room was a mess! Everything was out of place. So we thought that the Zwarte Pieten had done that of course!

I have lots of fun memories from Sinterklaas. I think it's really nice that we celebrated Sinterklaas, and that we got presents early in December. That way Christmas was always focused on Jesus' birth. We never got presents for Christmas.
Tys and Nieko will get their Sinterklaas presents on Saturday!
I think it's a really fun tradition.



One of my family members got this pinada as a surprise. See the mess?


my younger sister Elbrich, got a First-aid kit.... If you want to know why, you can ask me in an email or in person.


My sister Janneke and her husband Jan Bert just bought a house, that's why she got this house as a surprise!

Look at all the presents!


Teake dressed up as zwarte piet


So, the reason why Sinterklaas' assistants are black is because they go through the chimney to deliver the kids' gifts!
These Pieten get dressed up like this every saturday in november and on the 5th of December of course. Think of all the black make-up they have to put on, and, worse, take off again!

Sinterklaas transfers from the boat to his horse, named Amerigo


His arrival on the boat, right by my old home..


Niek dressed up as zwarte piet


Sinterklaas


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

a fun Thanksgiving!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving! After church the whole De Winkle family gathered together at Pake en Beppe's (Rudi's parents). I really enjoyed watching all the kids play together. They had so much fun. It's amazing to me how fast a family can grow! Just two years ago, there was only Arie! And now there's 7 grandkids (one girl!), and one more on the way (Justin & Siska are due April 14th).
All the food was SO good! There was so much of everything! A turkey, a ham (delicious!), rolls, and lots more!

After dinner, we left the boys with the family, and Rudi and me went to work on the dairy for a little bit. It had been so long since I helped Rudi work without the kids. It was really fun and special!

When we came back, we had dessert. There was so much good stuff! I think there were 5 different desserts! So, lots to choose from. It was definitely my favorite part!


*


So, this is a funny story; Miriam handed me Moriah to hold her for just a minute. Miriam had to go get something real quick. So Rudi and me changed Nieko and Moriah's clothes. You should have seen the look on Miriam's face when she came back to get Moriah! It was hilarious, she didn't know what to think for a second! And then we all laughed!


Nieko in Moriah's clothes. He would have made a pretty girl, huh?


Getting all the food ready.... (Ok, Rudi was just snooping from the ham...)


Dad cutting the turkey. And Gideon was hungry! (or just curious?)


Ioan (Dirk and Molly's baby) and Nieko. They're about a month apart. Nieko is older, but Ioan is bigger! Do you think they look like cousins?