The Schutte Family

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T18:01:00.001+01:00

Evie's Christmas Centerpiece

2011-12-19T21:46:00.004+01:00

Today Evie got to make a Christmas centerpiece at school. Felix and mama came by to watch and lend a helping hand. The finished product is beautiful and certainly something to be proud of.

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-16T21:47:00.000+01:00

Last week we put the tree up and decorated. Atop the tree this year is a new star that lights up. We think it's perfect!

2011-12-04T23:20:00.002+01:00

In preparation for tomorrow's sinterklaas festivities, Tom and kids made kruidnoten today. Those are pretty much just mini gingersnaps, but then a little bit different. They are quintessential Sinterklaas treat. Thanks to a new mix available at the grocery store, they are also pretty easy and fun (and only slightly messy) to make at home.

Two Princesses

2011-12-04T23:17:00.002+01:00

Dressing up like princesses never gets old!! And seeing our little boy dressed up like a fairy princess is still just as cute as can be! So here are the latest in girly-girly dress up time. And no, Evie is not making an obscene gesture in the second photograph, she is simply showing off her ring. How dare you think that!!!

Movember is Over

2011-12-01T23:13:00.002+01:00

Being December first means that it is time to say goodbye to the mustache. It ended up looking pretty good on him. To be honest, I kind of missed it when it was gone, but enough is enough. Tom did a fantastic job raising money for prostate cancer research. He totaled close to three hundred euros! Here we have his last mustache photo and underneath a video of all the photos. Of course we weren't able to achieve the goal of a picture every day, but it still works with just sixteen photographs. Tom is planning on participating in Movember next year, so we'll have another chance of making a really cool morph video!

Pieten Disco

2011-11-27T23:05:00.001+01:00

Today it was time for another kids disco at the grote markt. This time it was a Sinterklaas theme, of course. Our kids donned their Piet costumes with black facepaint and all, and headed down to the Grote Markt. Unfortunately, there weren't nearly as many patrons as last month's Halloween party, but it was still loads of fun. Hopefully next month's New Year's party will be better attended.

My Evie Piet was ready to party!

Decorating eierkoek.

Our little breakdancer is back!

This was an albino piet, apparently...

Father-daughter dance.

At least there was plenty of room to spread out and dance.

Every time he would do a move he would hold it for about a minute or more leaving plenty of time to take a picture.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T22:55:00.000+01:00

It's Thanksgiving again, and this is an American tradition that we strongly believe in keeping special in our household. We celebrate it on the real date of Thanksgiving, which inconveniently falls on a Thursday. Evie got to stay home from school, and Tom got to stay home from work, in order to participate in the preparations. Menno also took the day off to join in the good American fun! Liz had a strict schedule layed out starting promptly at two o'clock. While things were going on in the kitchen, Evie was busy making namecards and setting the table perfectly. The meal ended up being perfectly delicious. Another colleague, Sophie, joined us for dinner. After the kids went to bed we enjoyed a few hours of board games. It was pretty much a perfect Thanksgiving Day!

Ready to go!

The table is all set.

Here is one of the namecards Evie made. Each one was colored differntly according to the color preferences of each guest.

The unceremonial carving of the turkey.

Before eating we all gave our thanks. Evie was grateful for Mama, and Felix was grateful for Papa. What more could you ask for??

The meal: Roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, butternut squash, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, stewed pears, and cornbread!

Sinterklaas Journaal

2011-11-22T22:51:00.003+01:00

While Sinterklaas is here in the country, there are a couple traditions to be kept. One of them is the watching of the Sinterklaas Journaal, or Sinterklaas news. The show is hosted by Dieuwertje Blok. The kids loving saying, "Sinterklaas Journaal met Dieuwertje Blok." Even Felix says it well! The news is sent out at a pretty impossible time for us to watch it, so every day after dinner the kids watch that day's news on the computer. It has their full attention, as could be expected.

Reading the Bible

2011-11-21T22:49:00.001+01:00

Here we have a picture of Evie reading to Felix from her toddler Bible. It is one of her favorite books.

Beekse Bergen

2011-11-20T22:36:00.001+01:00

Today Opa Bas celebrated his birthday by taking the whole family to the Beekse Bergen, a safari zoo in the southern part of the Netherlands. Although the rest of the country was covered in mist, it stayed more or less clear and sunny for the better part of the day. Thank goodness!

Oma Wilma walks with Felix

The stroller was basically used as a carrier of bags... also quite useful.

The two little ones.

Tom got to take some cool pictures of the animals!

Later in the afternoon the fog rolled in again.

Gorilla!

I love this picture of the boy.

I always knew she was a little monkey.

Aunty Monkey!

Oma Els & Opa Erno Visit

2011-11-19T22:27:00.003+01:00

This weekend Oma Els and Opa Erno came to spend the weekend with us.

That of course means two happy kids!

Felix loves to laugh!

Erno took Tom to a gathering of the Socialist Party in the Parliament building.
After putting out the shoes, and singing of course, we were treated to some fun presents from Sinterklaas in the morning.

The carrot we had left out was also chewed on my the Sint's horse.

Wednesdays with Evie

2011-11-16T22:24:00.002+01:00

Tom and Evie are lucky to spend every other Wednesday afternoon together. Today they took a walk along the pier in Scheveningen and had some fish, too. Evie wore her rainboots so she could walk in the water a bit.

He's Back!!!

2011-11-12T22:35:00.005+01:00

Sinterklass is back in town! He arrived this morning by steamboat from Spain, bringing back his band of helpers known as Black Peters. The kids are so excited. They both got dressed up as little Black Peters to wave watch Sinterklaas enter the harbor.

Don't they look cute all dressed up!

Shortly before leaving they got their black face paint.

Opa Bas and Oma Wilma joined in the fun.

So excited for Sinterklaas!

Evie got to chat up a real Black Pete!

Those are more Black Peters on surfboards.

Felix Pete

There he is on his steamboat!

Our Pretty Evie Pete

Black Peters in the parade.

Every Pete has his own unique costume.

Hello, Sinterklaas!

The kids have gone to Opa and Oma's house for the night. They have set their shoes out in the hopes that Sint and Pete will make a visit in the night. Exciting!

Mobro Felix

2011-11-10T16:04:00.002+01:00

No, Felix is not about to sneeze in this photo. He just wants to join in the Movember fun, too, which is why he keeps doing this and saying "Felix ook een snor! Felix ook een snor!!" (Felix has a mustache, too!).

Papa Cuddle

2011-11-08T21:23:00.003+01:00

This evening Papa was treated to some extra cuddles. Unfortunately there was a little conflict as both Evie and Felix wanted to sit on Papa's lap, but Felix didn't want to share "his Papa." At one point they did manage to simultaneously give him a kiss on each cheek, but the camera was too late for that!

The look on Evie's face is priceless here as Felix attempts to push her away.

Bowling with Oma

2011-11-05T22:38:00.001+01:00

Today Oma Oma treated the whole family to an evening of bowling and indonesian food. More than thirty family members were able to join in the fun. Photographs are unfortunately not so easy to make in the disco bowling environment, so don't mind that.

Tom bowling

Evie bowling

Oma only took one turn, but it was a strike! GO OMA!!!!

It's quite the handy contraption to help the kids.

My little family of bowlers.

Martijn & Aunty

Felix was way too thirsty to pause to smile for the camera.

Whenever he got the chance, Felix ran off to be with Opa Bas.

A House of Their Own

2011-11-02T18:42:00.002+01:00

For the past week Evie has been talking about making a house for her two favorite stuffed animals - Dixie the Dog and Tweet Tweet the bird (you may know him as Tweety Bird). Today she was able to make her wish come true. Tom had the afternoon off so he picked up Evie from school and went straight to the grocery store for a discarded banana box. Evie's friend Mirre joined in the fun, too! Tom then constructed two identical houses to have the girls paint. They did a good job, and now Dixie and Tweet Tweet finally have a place of their own.

Mama Cuddle

2011-11-01T20:39:00.001+01:00

This evening Mama was treated to some extra sweet cuddles from Felix and Evie.

Smooooch!

I'm so lucky!!!

Movember

2011-11-01T13:31:00.004+01:00

Starting today, Tom is taking part in an annual month-long fundraiser called Movember. Movember = Mustache + November. The goal is to let one's mustache grow during the month while raising awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer. Tom is collecting to support the Dutch Cancer Institute and Hospital. If you would like to sponsor Tom in his efforts, you can do so by following this link or by clicking on the big yellow ad here to the right. We will also be adding daily photos to the Movember page, so be sure to check out his progress.

Halloween Cookies

2011-10-31T13:28:00.002+01:00

To help celebrate Halloween in the classroom, Evie brought some homemade sugar cookies to school today. There were ghosts, bats, and jack-o-lanterns! They were pretty delicious, and kids enjoyed their treat! Unfortunately, there are no pictures from school.

Halloween Party

2011-10-30T17:24:00.002+01:00

This year there was a kids Halloween party at the Grote Markt in the city center. It was set up as a kids disco with a live dj, pancake stand, face paint table, and coloring pages. All the kids were dressed up in their finest halloween attire. The party was lots of fun. The highlight, of course, was the screaming contest. About a hundred kids were up on the stage screaming their heads off while all the parents couldn't help but laugh, laugh, laugh!!!! I'm proud to say, our kids didn't win.

Felix was showing off his dance moves quite a bit.

Pancakes!

Dancing together onstage.

SCREAM!!!!!

Trick-or-Treat!!!

2011-10-29T23:15:00.000+02:00

Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood was held on a Saturday this year, to make it easier for everyone involved. Felix had a skeleton suit and Evie was a black cat.

Felix looked the scariest when we wore the skeleton mask.

It wasn't very cold out, so the kids were able to just wear an extra layer under their costumes.

"TRICK-or-TREAT!!!"

Halfway through Mama and Papa traded places handing out the candy/walking with the kids. This was the perfect opportunity for Felix to sample some of his candy.

This is the bird that landed on the electrical wires!

Meow... our sweet kitty.

Hello Kitty Museum

2011-10-20T23:08:00.003+02:00

Today we took a visit to the Siebold Huis in Leiden, a museum about Japan. They currently have an exhibition that we simply could not miss - Hello Kitty, Hello Holland! Being the Fall break, Hello Kitty was there herself for a great photo op.

Felix shakes Hello Kitty's hand.

He pretty much thought the point of this piece was to play peek-a-boo behind Hello Kitty. That works, too.

There was a difficult scavenger hunt and some craft activities for the kids.

And lots of Hello Kitty things. Our favorite was the guitar.

Felix enjoyed the magnetic Hello Kitty dress-up wall.

Dutch Hello Kitty

Marzipan Cupcakes

2011-10-17T16:16:00.003+02:00

This morning we made some cupcakes and decorated them with marzipan. For those who don't know, marzipan is similar to fondant. It is easy to model, kind of like play-doh, but it tastes a lot better! Felix was doing a really good job at playing and making things until he realized it was edible. Then there was more snacking that modeling going on.

Our rolling pin has gone AWOL on us, so we had to improve with cups.

Evie ended up making way too many. We only had 12 cupcakes!

Evie was also able to help Felix.

The finished products! The kids were very proud of their work!