Guest Post: A Garden Handprint Keepsake in 5 Easy Steps

Today I'm a guest blogger over at The Creative World of Varya, sharing a garden family keepsake we made last summer. A year later it is still standing proud in our garden.

Pop over to learn how to make this handprint tile in 5 easy steps: http://www.creativeworldofvarya.com/special-guest-thursday-a-garden-keepsake-handprint-expat-life-with-a-double-buggy/

Dutch Friend Books

Photo Credit: Cienpies Design

My eldest son started primary school two years ago and within a week he came home with a vriendenboek (friend book). And that was just the start of it. He then, of course, needed a book of his own and this was passed from friend to friend for the poor mothers to fill in during their evenings. (Dads are not involved in any way with friend books). Naturally, mothers have absolutely nothing to fill their time with once the kids are in bed so these friend books really are a blessing.

They require such information as favourite colour, favourite teacher, favourite subject in school, favourite film, favourite website, favourite book, favourite music, what you want to be later when you are all big and grown up, favourite food, favourite underpants.... you get the picture.

When you are four and five, you're not only unable to physically write the answers to these questions yourself but your answers change from week to week so a manual copy and paste is out of the question. This means you have no choice but to sit with your child and go through every question. Last week the favourite colour was blue but this week it's that 'dark purpley colour'. Last week he wanted to be superman but this week policeman is the career of choice. No mother wants to be accused of lying in their child's friend book, so it has to be done properly - we mothers have enough guilt to deal with as it is.

And of course every new friend book page requires a photo. There are only so many spare passport photos that a mother stockpiles so the next step is printing photos out on paper and cutting round heads. With a completed profile page, the book is then handed over to the child who scribbles, draws and puts stickers over the page, making some of the information that has been painfully extracted from a four year old illegible.

Finally, there is the 'keeping tabs on the friend book' game to play. Two weeks after giving the friend book to a classmate a voice will suddenly chirp up,

"Muuuuuum, I don't know where my friend book is."
"Ok. Is it in your bedroom?"
"No. I gave it to someone."
"Ok. Who?"
"Ermmmmmmmm. I don't know."
"Right."

And you'll be that mother that has to ask the teacher to put a note on the information board about a missing friend book......

Is this a Dutch thing? I don't remember having anything like this when I was at school. Any other country's school children fond of friend books?

My Children Are not Dustbins

I have been really frustrated the last few weeks by the amount of junk reaching my children's stomachs. What frustrates me as much as what they are being fed is the fact that it is completely out of my hands because it is happening in school of all places. My three year old seems to come home every other week clutching a goodie bag filled to the brim with sugar having celebrated some birthday or another or a child leaving nursery school to start primary school. Oh, and did I mention he's only in school for five hours per week? He gets more crap fed to him in those five hours than the rest of the week combined.

But it's not just the goodie bags. He came home yesterday proudly announcing he'd had an ijsje and a cookie in school because two children are leaving the peuterspeelzaal.  He was there from 8.45am until 11.15am. Seriously. How much sugar can a child ingest in those two and a half hours in the morning? If he's at home he has a piece of fruit around 10.30 am. If he's lucky and he nags me enough.

I don't like to whine, but really. Shouldn't healthy eating education begin at an early age? The schools my children attend write a lot about parents providing health snacks for children for break time in the 'school rules' and in their newsletters and ask that parents think along the lines of healthy treats to celebrate birthdays but do nothing to actually enforce these requests. The first whiff of a school trip and fried snacks and sugar bombs are on the menu (courtesy of the school). Practice what you preach. Please.

No thanks - my kids are not dustbins
Photo credit: http://www.montanabvba.be

Children do not need party bags loaded with every type of sweet and biscuit you can imagine. The truth is that most parents I know end up throwing the contents in the bin. My children get much more pleasure out of a pencil and eraser, or a fun pair of glasses and a mini water pistol (like my son got in his goodie bag today) than endless bags of gummy bears, cola bottles and Dora biscuits that their mummy throws in the trash as soon as they have forgotten they even received a goodie bag. Don't get me wrong I'm not anti-sweets but believe in everything in moderation, especially in school!

There are so many better alternatives. Last week a friend of mine gave each kid in my son's class, amongst other things, a tooter to mark her daughter's birthday. The entire class came out at lunchtime blowing them, a cacophony of noise, and they were having more fun than you can shake a stick at. Laughing, smiling faces all round and not a sniff of sugar involved. Another friend made 'watermelon lollies' for her son's birthday and with the exception of one child the class devoured them. We're making little fruit cakes for my son's farewell session at school tomorrow. Small ones, with as much fruit as possible and as little sugar as possible - the fun is in the cake topper photo we'll use. And he'll give each classmate a little bag of 'Forget Me Not' seeds (get it?) with a printed message on it. There is always an alternative to bags and bags of candy.

Rant over. For now. But watch out because well meaning relatives are next on my "my children are not dustbins" hit list......

Does your school promote healthy eating? Is this a cultural thing (my husband says this is the Dutch way...)? Are your children stuffed full of sugar outside your home?

Motherhood, Passion and a Creative Hat: A Career Crossroads

A Career Crossroads is not always easy to negotiate
Photo Credit: http://www.uniqraphy.de/

I wanted a career that allowed me to wear my creative hat every day, not one that sucked the life out of me. So I made a change. So easy it was not....obviously.... but I did eventually make the switch to a career with the added bonus that I could combine it with motherhood. A career that gave me the freedom to work from home (or anywhere for that matter) and still be around for my children growing up.

I realise how lucky I am to have been able to make a change when I stood before my own career crossroads, to follow my heart and let my passion dictate my career - and my story makes up a piece I wrote for the latest Expats Blog writing contest. Follow me on over there.... take a read and tell me what you think on the Expats Blog page by leaving a comment or liking the post. And whilst your over there, check out some of the other great posts from fellow expats across the world.

Christmas Gifts Crafted by Creative Expats: La Petite Lulu's Soft Toys

Meet Beckett the Bassett Hound
who is soon to join our family
(c) La Petite Lulu

It's nearly here.... the festive season is approaching fast. Sinterklaas is about to hit town so it's time for those gift ideas I promised courtesy of creative expats. This week something very special for the little people in your life. Or come to think of it, for the big people too.

First up is La Petite Lulu's wonderful handmade soft toys for babies and children. Unbeknown to my children they will each be the proud and happy owner of a unique cuddly animal on the 5th December. That's if I can wait that long to give the softies to them and not put them in their shoes before pakjesavond. I've seen them with my own eyes, and felt them with my own hands - they are unbelievably cute, so soft and brilliantly unique. I know these are the toys that my boys will have stashed away in years to come as a memory of their childhood.

Luana, an Australian expat living in the American state of California, lovingly crafts these softies from recycled fabrics and they are all incredibly affordable, even if you take postage from the USA into account.

Some of you expats here in the Netherlands may know Luana already as up until March this year she called the Netherlands home. That's how I came to be a follower of her expat adventures from pregnancy through to first time motherhood via her La Petite Lulu blog. And now, whilst her son is napping Luana is busy crafting these little masterpieces.

Custom made Monty the
Monkey
(c) La Petite Lulu

From dinosaurs to cars, and fairies to flowers, La Petitie Lulu has a range to fulfill every boy or girl's wish. However, if your child's favourite animal or item isn't on display.... she's happy to take custom orders. That's how Monty the Monkey was born - I asked Luana if she could make a monkey and two days later she sent me a photo of her creation. You can't get a more unique gift than that!

Here are just some of the cuties she has created:

Monty's cousin Moe
(c) La Petite Lulu

Little Gray Car
(c) La Petite Lulu

Blossom the bird
(c) La Petite Lulu

Bernard the beaver
(c) La Petite Lulu

To make one of these little treasures a member of your family head on over to her Etsy shop. But wait, one more thing before you disappear... for readers of this blog there is an exclusive discount of 15% off La Petite Lulu's softies. Just enter the code DOUBLEBUGGY at the Etsy checkout.

**I would just like to mention that I am not receiving any commission for promoting any items in this blog series - I am just sharing the love for creative expats because their products are awesome!! :-)**