Tag: My kids

Yesterday evening

On By EstherIn Real life6 Comments

After dinner, Mr E and I biked into town and sat down for a few drinks. We had a great spot…

Sometimes, even now with the kids all grown, we feel like we need to be around at home for them when they come home or we need to include them in all activities or at least ask them if they want to come with us. But with one son in Portugal and one daughter who had plans of her own on Saturday evening, we figured we should just do something too and not be so stuck to the house all the time. Now that we are approaching the empty nest phase we really should allow ourselves many more spontaneous little outings like this. In fairness, it was never the kids holding us back – it was us.

Granted, we’ve done plenty of things without the kids, especially in recent years, but somehow we may not do quite as much as we could because in the back of our minds they are always very much present and we are invested in what they’re doing and when they’ll be home (and do we need to be home?) and the constant day-to-day consideration of them. Yes, at 22 and 19 they are quite independent and have been for a while but even so, there is still that bit of daily consideration that has been second nature to us. The time is now coming that we can just do and plan things without considering them. Now, except for snippets, we are not included in our son’s day-to-day anymore and we only have one kid left to consider. How weird it will feel when my daughter too will fly the coop!

Sure, it’s nice to be more free of having to consider the kids but the huge down side is that I’ll miss them… terribly… It’s all part of the process of letting go, I guess.

11 things that made me smile

On By EstherIn In the news, Real life, Richard Armitage4 Comments

So friggin’ busy of late that ‘real’ blogging is really falling by the wayside. Making time this evening to share a few recent highlights that I meant to share over time but never got around to…

1- The town where I live has been celebrating its 750th anniversary and the old church has opened its rooftop to visitors. We finally went up two weeks ago to take an eagle-eye peek at our town. It was beautiful.

2- Cats. One sleeping on a tray, the other cuddling on top of my daughter’s head.

3- Speaking of my daughter, she has started her applied sciences university and is studying nursing and loving it. She’s bang in the middle of this group picture taken the other day.

4- Honourable mention for my son. Since the fall of 2019 he’s done internships, finished his vocational college online and had a gap year, so he basically hasn’t been in school for three years. He has now started applied sciences university in The Hague, studying sports management. Going back to school again is a bit of an adjustment for him but it looks like he’s off to a very good (albeit exhausting) start. We’re very proud of him for giving this a real and serious shot.

5- Rainbow last week.

6- I thought I’d play the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon thing the other day. I thought I was four degrees removed, then three but now I realize it’s two!

Apparently even Kevin Bacon himself reacted to this one…

7- Nicola Walker is joining Richard Armitage in narrating the audiobook Geneva that he wrote! It can almost tempt me to listen to an audiobook, because I think Nicola Walker is awesome…

…. but just like some other fans already requested, I’d love to see a print version of this book too.

8- While I’m at it, this picture of Richard as Father Quart appeared. Don’t think I’d seen it before but it’s fascinating. I can’t seem to take my eyes off it.

9- So yes, I watched Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral at the beginning of the week. Fascinating and impressive pomp and circumstance with so many impressive and some touching images but I think I liked this image (by artist Eleanor Tomlinson) best, made just after the queen died.

10- I was clearing photos off my phone camera and came across this image that I snapped very quickly back in June or so. I was leaving the metro to go to the office and saw Anne of Green Gables infront of me! That’s who she reminded me of in any case.

11- The situation in Ukraine remains depressing and very scary but I did enjoy this bit from a Dutch comedy programme offering a referendum for all Russians (made by the same people who made the ‘America First, The Netherlands Second’ video after Trump was elected president).

Right, off to bed now. Another busy work day awaits tomorrow.

Cute!

On By EstherIn Real life4 Comments

Just a bit of nostalgia here before the pizza arrives that we ordered for dinner: I came across these pictures the other day that I didn’t even remember existed anymore. The kids were almost 2 and 4 at the time…

They hardly ever cuddle like that out of their own free will (even then they were too fidgety to do this often) so it was extra sweet seeing these! It’s incredible how big those two cuties have grown (this was last summer)…

Ah, the passage of time is so visible as I watch them become young adults…

A witch for an evening…

On By EstherIn Literature & Books, Real life24 Comments

Do something with witches, Herba encouraged in the latest Mach’ Was challenge. Two things spring to mind when I think of witches.

The first thing that springs to mind is one of my favourite children’s books that I used to read to my own children when they were small. It’s called Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Here’s a lovely reading of that book on YouTube…

For my kids I always read the Dutch version…

It’s the story about a witch who picks up and helps some animals and lets them travel with her on her broom. When she in turn is in danger her new friends all help her. The kids loved that book, as did I. The text had a great rhythm to it and was clever which made it so much fun to read and we loved the illustrations too.

The second thing I think of when I hear the word ‘witch’ is that time 13 years ago when I was a witch for an evening. I had decided with a friend of ours that we should celebrate Halloween at our house for once. It is not a holiday that is normally celebrated here so we thought it would be fun to try it out. The kids dressed up as a vampire and a cat respectively and my friend and I dressed up as witches…

As witches and a vampire and a cat we tried our hand at carving a pumpkin…

That was harder work than we had ever thought. The end result was quite nice but it was the first and the last time I have ever carved one…

We played games, like the typical Dutch party game ”koekhappen” (take a bite out of a dangling piece of cake, in this case a donut, with your hands tucked behind your back) or the kids tackling Mr E as they liked to do every evening after dinner until they became too big and strong. Mr Esther is never one for dressing up but he did sport a fancy embroidered kippah we have and briefly also borrowed mini me’s cat ears…

As a witch, I did my best to stir my witch’s dinner brew in a cauldron…

And yes, at one point in the evening witch Esther also read the Room on the Broom book to the kids…

… which makes this post come full circle!

We never did such a Halloween celebration again, the kids had a few Halloween parties at daycare for a few years and that was enough. I do remember this one occasion and that book very fondly, though. Should I ever dress up for Halloween again, it will always be as a witch.

Easter, day two

On By EstherIn Actors, Actresses, Real life11 Comments

We have a “Second Easter Day” here in The Netherlands, it’s always good to have an extra day off. After having a few sunny days and 20 degrees Celsius (68 F) last week, today it’s 3 degrees Celsius (37 F) and we even had a little snow earlier!

Ten minutes after that the sun was shining again, this weather is mad…

A code yellow weather warning for this evening has been issued, saying there will be strong winds and slippery conditions on the roads, thanks to hail and snow particularly in the north and west (and we live west-ish).

So, no Easter walks out today (like Mr Esther and I did yesterday), we’re just huddling up at home. Time for helping mini me with a small percussion assignment for school (using wooden boards that we use for breakfast, a milk carton and spoon and sprinkles, end result here, we’re not that talented but it’ll do) and taking an interest in Mr Esther jr’s computer game…

Mr Esther is in his study now, doing something with his Heraldry organization that he is a board member of and I am trying to figure out what to pick up on doing next. I wanted to do something with what feels like my brotha from anotha motha, Gabriel Macht (just pic spamming here, love his grin and seeing him with wife and kids and his colleague and close friend Sarah Rafferty from Suits and her husband)…

… but the starring roles he did have before Suits I’ve already seen and the other roles are smaller roles and I don’t want to stomach a whole movie that doesn’t particularly interest me, just for the few Gabriel Macht scenes in there. Maybe I’ll do another Suits video I had in my mind or I could do some necessary chores around the house… Nah… I won’t do the latter. Or I can finally start the Obama A Promised Land book, but no, that is too much of a time commitment, I need something shorter and sweeter… Ah, the endless possibilities of indoor activities… Ooh, or there’s always re-watching Gregory Peck! Today would have been his 105th birthday.

Yes, I think I can do worse than spend some time with Gregory, even checking out videos for this post has already been fun (and has conisderably delayed my posting this)…

Off to some more Gregory Peck, Gabriel Macht or maybe even Richard Armitage fun, i.e. will I finally try Spacesweepers? Time will tell…