Lost Tooth

Amélie pulled another tooth out today. This time she put it in her piggy bank to make it easier to give her some money for it; they know the truth about the tooth fairy. She also hurt her shoulder in gymnastics. 

Friday at school the girls had a lot of fun as it was the last day before the holiday. There was a book market, and nobody bought their books, so they donated them to the school. They each got to pick out a book though. 

Monday I was home sick again. Back to work on Thursday. Made a lot of progress editing the novel. Trimming out a lot of detail from the last section. Should flow more smoothly now. Packing up and hitting the road on Sunday for a few days in Berlin, then we will visit Claire and Matt in their new home in Switzerland. 

First card house for the girls. 

Beautiful walk on Tuesday.

Our fall crocus are enjoying the sunshine.

Nemo and the Beavers

On Wednesday the girls didn't have school because their teachers had some kind of training. Naomi and I are also not teaching on Wednesdays, so we went to Amsterdam. Strange how busy it was. The Nemo science museum was a lot of fun. Abigail loved it and wanted more time there. Amélie had a good time but couldn't engage with it in the same way. 

After a great lunch at the museum we walked over to the Anne Frank house. It has changed a lot, for the better, since the last time Naomi and I were there. Before, the secret annex was closed, but now you can walk through it. Next week we will go to Berlin, so a bit of war history this fall. 

Helene has Covid, so she was not able to pick up the girls from school on Thursday. Luckily we were able to send them to a friend's house, but now I am sick. Haven't been this sick in a long time. Called in on Friday and I won't be able to teach tomorrow either. Today Naomi gets to go to a baby shower that she was excited about at first, but is now dreading because the program seems really weird instead of fun. This week Amélie keeps asking to listen to The Beavers...she means The Beatles. She loves the music.

View of Amsterdam from Nemo.

Designing her own house with sustainable materials.

Thessa & Erik

Our friends from Rotterdam, Thessa and Erik, came for dinner last night. We had tea and some madelines that Naomi and Amélie made in the warm, sunny garden. Not too many of those days left! We dug up some of our plants for them to bring back with them. Oregano, peppers and a few avocados. 

They also picked up some couch tables to go with their branching bookshelf. Really cool to see their house coming together. They drove here and back with energy produced by their solar panels - just got their electric Volvo yesterday. It is pretty cool! 

On Monday we had a really special dinner in Zutphen with Jenny & Pat. Amélie is feeling a bit sick now though, so I might stay home with her tomorrow. I also got four ideas for my novel's cover design. Very exciting. I really like one of them a lot! Makes the project seem a lot more real. Trying to get the two short stories cleaned up and the website in good shape as well. Lots to do!

Dinner in Zutphen at Sultani.

Zutphen's city gate at night.

The finished living room!

Jenny & Pat!

We were able to meet Jenny and Pat yesterday in Hattem at the Bakery Museum. Getting a spot there takes some advance planning, so it was great that we were finally able to get in. It's too bad they didn't understand Dutch, because the tour included a really funny stand up comedy routine by the Baker and a cookie making workshop for the girls. Unfortunately we just missed the working windmill. They closed right as we walked up!

Today we plan to tour the castle and I will try to make some veggie burgers for dinner, without any of the processed ground beef replacement. It will be an experiment. Tomorrow Jenny and Pat will find something fun to do while we are all at school, and then we will go out for dinner in Zutphen. Tuesday they head toward Germany.

The rest of the week went just fine. Lots of appointments. Naomi also started selling some of our stuff, so it is good to start the process of clearing things out. Naomi and Abigail met with her teachers at school about her level/boredom/lack of motivation. Seems that things have been going a bit better lately, and the school is trying to help Abigail, so that is nice. The girls are also making great progress with their piano skills!

Just missed the rainbow over the teepee.

Fried green tomatoes! I put a bunch to green tomatoes in the freezer as they won't ripen up. Nice for sauces.

Finished up the latest woodworking project to compliment the branching bookshelves.

Fun at the Bakery Museum.