Party weekend

We had a real party weekend. On Sunday our little baby turned 10 and we celebrated it with a real girl party. And on Monday it was my birthday, I don't want to say it to loud but I turned 41.
Because we live far from our family (20.000 Km) they don't come to the parties anymore. In the beginning it was hard for the girls, but now we are used to it. So we invited a group of friends from school for a real girl party. It was great fun.
They decorated their own cupcakes with cream and lollies.We had a treasure hunt in the dunes and along the beach, had a swing on the enormous swing at the beach and have great fun blowing enormous foam bubbles that I saw here.

I made a party pinata from paper maché and tissue paper. Fun to make and the girls enjoyed it. After the party André enjoyed the left over from the pinata as well.

Lieke made the "Thank You" party bags for her friends and of course there was some nice cake.

The last big day out.

Today my oldest daughter and I went on our big day out. The last one in the row for this year.
She wants do go shopping and than especially second hand shopping. I'm a big fan of second hand shopping so we had the day of our live!!

There is a really cool big second hand clothing shop in Petone near Wellington. We spent the whole morning in the shop. And as the pictures shows, we had fun trying things on and buying.
We came home with 5 bags full and spend less than $150.-
So we are not cold this winter. Look at my 'NEW" boots!

After a great lunch we did some birthday shopping and we went to the Dutch shop. We still like the dutch dropjes and speculaas. By the time the shops were closing our feed were ready to go home as well. We stoped for a nice ice cream at "the beach store" in Paikakariki, they have the most wonderful place to sit and enjoy your ice cream.

When we cam home we run to the shower, after a big day out second hand shopping you feel a bit sticky I can tell you. But we had a great day!

So girls start thinking what we can next year.

Easter break.

Hope you all had a great Easter break. We enjoyed it, no work, no school, no sport, just nothing, it was great. The weather was perfect (like most of the time) and that makes it all so good.
The girls still like it to have an Easter egg hunt, so we had one in the garden.

I made this bread for breakfast. The dough is made in the bread maker the night before.

After 20 min. in the oven I filled it with a spread of marscapone and lemon curd. Some spread on top and fresh fruit and mint. It was a great start of the day!

Of course, we painted some eggs, don't they look colour full.

I made a Greek diner with an espresso cake with a chocolate/walnut topping for dessert.

As you can see we loved it. My birthday is coming soon and I think I want this cake as my birthday cake. I probably have to make it myself but I don't mind. It was Delicious.

Now with the Easter behind us , I've put some handmade love heart in the Easter tree as a colour full decoration.

Happy Easter !!!

Wish you all a happy Easter !!!

A house full of visitors.

Be prepared darling ( I know you always read my blog on your work) we have a house full of visitors tonight. And they stay for a few days. They already took the couch, but I can tell you they don't chat and giggle the hole evening and I'm sure they don't snore like me :) .

I told you already in a older post that there was a lot of sewing going on. I'm busy making bears for the Easter market this Saturday. They are all made out of recycled clothing (most from the girls). I think in these days it is good to recycle, there is always a use for things.
So 100% New Zealand made and absolute safe for the little ones. They are very soft and cuddly.

My little girl is turning 10 soon and I asked here what she wants for her birthday. She was sure that she wants to have one of my bears. So the pink one white the love heart on the tummy is for her. I made it specially for her with all her old scarves and jerseys. I'm absolutely sure that she will love her "new" bear.

Our cat Minoes is happy with the new visitors.

Cooking disaster.

Once a week Elle (13) makes a nice meal for us. I can tell you she is doing a great job. She is vegetarian and likes cooking and baking (like mum). Our rule is the one who is cooking can choose what to make. She goes through the books during the week and on Saturday she comes out of the kitchen and surprises us every week. Last Saturday she needed a little bit of help from me. She was preparing Sushi. But the smell was terrible. We were looking through the recipe and couldn't find any mistakes. At last we found the mistake. All the ingredients where overdue for more than a year!!!
So off to get some take aways, fish and chips, was a good alternative.

But the best surprise was left till the end. For desert she made a wonderful lemon meringue pie. And is was DELICIOUS !!!!!

Well done darling. I'm looking forward to next Saturday.

Sewing time.

There is a lot of sewing going on at the moment because I have a stall at the big Easter market on the coast. I give you a little peek of what I'm making. More later in a other post.



I made some Easter bunnies from an old wool cardigan. Found the tutorial here. And as you see my valentine tree is now an Easter tree. What you all can do with a little branch out of the garden.