Back home

Some picture of …

Our trip back home.

The ‘luggage-seat’ in use.

The kids’ beloved tree in their grandparents’ garden.

Rediscovery of their trampoline.

Dinner at our kitchen table.

Daddy at work with the kids playing in the background.

Take off

We are all packed and ready to go for our nocturnal flight! Nine pieces of luggage, two adults to carry the luggage and 5 children to keep in line; this requires some organization if we safely want to reach our destination!

I love using a baby carrier and our kids love to be carried around. One kid in a baby carrier that means, one kid less to stick its fingers where they don’t belong; leaves me with only four children to keep an eye on.

This year I reduce the number of children running around till 3. Jade goes in the baby carrier and Felix sits on one of the bags!

A normal stroller means extra kilos to check in and an extra item to push, so carrying Felix on one of the bags is ideal.

The bag does not fall over when normally loaded.

The seat as well as the back of the seat are strengthened with a thin MDF plate. The MDF wood is covered with mousse to make it a comfortable and soft seat for Felix.

Two big belts keep the seat in place on the luggage bag and a three-piece smaller belt keeps the baby safely seated while walking around.

He needed to get used to it but now he loves to sit and being carried around on the luggage bag.

The seat can be folded in so it does not take any space when not in use.

If only I would have invented this system a year earlier! That would have made our trip with my broken collar bone a lot easier!

Have a good summer holiday and maybe we meet in Belgium!

Fabric: The elephant fabric is Trefle Elephants in Clementine and Navy from Kokka, the fabric was purchased at Drygoods Design.

Pattern & idea: homemade - Curl Up

Welcome to the world

My eldest sister just gave birth to the youngest family addition. Another baby boy! So my parents have 9 grandsons and only 2 granddaughters.

His present has been laying around a couple of days as baby A is born some days late. We secretly wished for a girl but luckily did not choose girl fabric for his present!

We are unable to visit him right now, but the hospital is our first stopover when we get out of the airplane on Thursday morning! Nevertheless we can’t wait to reveal the present for you here and now, on the day he is born! I am sure my sister will not go online these first couple of days, so it will still be a present for them.

We made him a comfortable soft sleeping bag made in ‘Chinese Blue’ finished with red binding, so he can gently dream away the first months of his precious life.

See you on Thursday at the hospital dear baby boy!

Stof: mini shop in Shanghai, more specifically in Yuyuan Garden

Pattern: homemade - Curl Up

The choice of Mrs M

Mrs M, the ‘Maman de Liaison’, of the class of Miss Vanessa, asked me to cover the photobook of the class. The colors and layout were chosen by Mrs M and Curl Up assembled the cover.

The beautiful, flashy outside fabric was decorated with two embroideries. The first one represents Miss Vanessa and is drawn by one of the children of the class. 

The second embroidery on the front is a poem invented by the children, embroidered in the handwriting of one of the kids of the class.

The backside of the book cover is decorated with the names of all the children of CPc. 

Miss Vanessa loved her gift, and we love the excellent choice of fabrics and matching thread colors the ‘Maman de Liaison’ made.

Waiting for Pim

This week I visited her sewing room and I scored this fabric! 

Now the only thing left to do is waiting for Pim. It is a relatively small piece of fabric but I think it is ideal for this pattern.

Last day...

The last day at school, at swim class, at speech therapy, at gymnastics,… So it is time to thank ALL the teachers and coaches of our kids.

Besides the usual tshirts and pencil cases we gave Playmobil.

Last summer we were charmed by the ‘limited edition’ of Playmobil launched for the Olympic Summer Games in London.

To thank the gymnastic coaches we glued some Playmobil figures in a small home-decorated box.

Not the most useful present we ever handed out, but according to us a great souvenir. Thanks a lot to everyone who helps our kids to grow.

Disobedient robbers

A quick stopover at the carpenter, the kids were told to stay quietly in the car. A minute later there were three standing alongside of me. 

All three barefoot!

Turning a deaf ear to my warnings about nails and wood splinters; the stopover was to exciting and instructive.

Sticks to battle!

A corner store with ice cream was invaded.

Luckily none of the spectators could have cared less how dirty the kids looked or how scantily they were dressed.

Five minutes later their feet were embarrassingly dirty and we packed to go home and take a bath.