Moline

Partying in weird times

As I already told you, in spite of all the terrible news over the days in Japan we are trying to maintain the natural flow of days here with the children. So we are having Birthday parties and this one was a special one. Moritz turned 10. I mean 10, that may sound strange for people having toddlers or grown-ups at home but for me this is really a number. Our eldest turned 10 and time ran so fast.  I am sounding like an old aunt saying this but that is how I feel (not the old aunt thing but the time-running thing). I see the years just running by when i am looking at our children. Although Markus and me are also getting visibly older I don"t feel it. I just see it in the children. Like I am staying like I was when I gave birth to them and they are just moving on. 

So a swimming party we had at the local swimming hall with entertainment for a while to play water games and building a floss to survive the artificial waves in the pool. Of course I made a cake. In a hurry and not perfect but I loved the idea of a gigantic swimming pool with these ball dividers and a funny swimmer.

After a few hours with 10 children in the pool I was done and now wall was painted that day - believe me!

To finish off for today I will let you see a bit of our new house in Seoul. It has a lot of light and open spaces and I love that it also has a view towards the city. it will look perfect at nighttime with all the lights. And the kitchen is great with so much workspace and the adjacent dining room. because kitchen and dining area are always the herat of the home where things are eaten, talked over, homework is made and we are having endless talks just sitting there after meals or after breaffasts on the week ends. I am so much looking forward to putting all our belongings into the rooms and take over the space to make it our new home!

have a wonderful week end! You will find me here on a ladder, painting some walls!

Yvonne

 

So much on my plate

The movers came, packed up nearly 90% of our house withing 4 days and gone was the massive container heading towards Seoul for our next adventure. I was so happy when they finally arrived to pack the things because that meant progress and one step more in the direction I've been looking for months now: EAST! 

We were left with an emptied up house or you could even call it a massively decluttered house if you wish. That was a strange but good feeling. For the first time during our travels around the world we are keeping a home base. My challenge now is to make it homey and cozy so we can come back for vacations and family and friend-reunions. And you know how I love remodeling spaces!

It is all a bit calmer now here and I am trying to figure out how to live in this space another way.

There is so much space and I am now taking out things from the basement and the garden to add it to the vast spaces left.

And of course I cannot resist painting some walls in new colours. this is partly because they need it and partly therapeutic. I've been worrying about Japan a lot. I was always so interested in this beautiful country and now was even drawn closer to it after entering the doll world, the Japanese crafting scene, the wonderful magazines and all the great people I met on Flickr. And then there was this catastrophe that seems to get bigger every day. And involved is not only a country I have feelings for but also part of our future: Seoul is so close and therefore also our moving plans come into focus again in a different angle.

As you can see in the map, Fukushima may be miles away from Germany, but it is close to Seoul where my husband now is working and looking for houses for our family... This is all so sad and I can only pray and hope that this atomic catastrophy will come to an end so Japan can start anew and rebuild itself.

As for our family: we put our flights on hold and we are waiting now for the situation to clear . To not go mad about all this there still is daily life: children have to be waken up, lunchboxes packed, children to be driven to sports events, attending music lessons, seing friends, doctr's visits and the like. We are talking about Japan and what happens at the moment. Even more so because Pauline took up Japanese at school this semester voluntarily (She said: "Mummy, with us you never know - maybe one day we will be even moving to Japan and then I will be prepared") and her teacher is coming from the region now destroyed by the Tsunami...

But I have to maintain normality and so I am preparing another Birthday: Moritz will be turning 10 on Sunday and we will be having a small party at the local swimming pool for him and his friends. 

1. pool party, 2. m, 3. Goggles, 4. university club swimmers, 5. Black Forest Cake, 6. Cuba Gallery: VW Van, 7. Swimming Pool, 8. 999, 9. Swimming pool, 10. O, 11. Bunting, 12. Swimming Pool, 13. R, 14.Pool, 15. Pool Water, 16. alice, 17. letter I, 18. The Pool, 19. pool, 20. T, 21. Swimming Pool, 22.Scrabble Letter Z, 23. 10, 24. England v. Portugal 7/1/06

See, occupied and hoping the best! We are keeping Japan in our thoughts and I am amazed what people have been doing in the Flickr communities these days. You can click onto the links for the pictures and find your way through charity events, raffles and the like. This is another thing I so love about Flickr: The fast reaction and how people are working together and act quickly to help and be there!

1. ARt FOr JAPan, 2. Dolly Community for Japan!, 3. "the other side of the world" getting closer, 4. A Radiation detector in Tokyo #quake #Japan #radiation, 5. help {japan}, 6. Japan !, 7. Japan-2011, 8.Charity Events For Japan, 9. Untitled, 10. ♥, 11. japan, we love you, 12. Japan quake, 13. Japan Needs Your Help (Donate Now!), 14. Japan Kisenuma, 15. Japan Quake 24x36, 16. one in a thousand

Hope to greet you soon with better news! 

 

 

 

Partying again

Poor Pauline always has her Birthday when there are school holidays in Germany. So we mostly celebrate a long time after the original date. 

She wanted to host a mad hatter tea party from Alice in wonderland because last year we read the book twice and loved it. We also watched the Disney film (the old version) and she was disappointed because the characters weren't as she imagined and she missed so many scenes and lines from the book. Again proof that it is mostly disappointed because the film adaptions do not reach the expectations you have when read the book.

No need to mention how much fun we had to prepare everything. We decided one could have a tea party more often - mad or not.  We put all the tiny treats in little eggcups and mismatched china to get the look. 

We also decorated bunny biscuits and played the inevitable flamingo crocket. How great that my friend Gele found this flamingo in a dollar store!

A project the children loved was making their own cakes and cupcakes from scrapbooking papers.

 
The moment I saw the tutorial on Tara Anderson's blog I knew I had to give it a try. So they were cutting and glueing and made the most fabulous cakes we later all displayed like in a patisserie:

They left the party with their decorated bunny biscuits, homemade paper cakes and they all got a bag full of Alice pictures, Ephemera and scrapbooking supplies to make their own little Alice booklet at home together with their photographs from the party.

We will hold a party like this again in the garden when we moved to Seoul and have settled in. And then I won't hang the dolly size china from our chandelier but the real one from a tree in the garden! It was so delightful for me to do all this (yes,  lot of stress, too and bitching around from my side as well...) that I even made my own Alice in wonderland board on Pinterest. 

We are now all recovering from the sweets shock here and are preparing for the movers who will be starting on MONDAY! Can you believe it? It is already time to pack!

See you soon and have a wonderful week!
Yvonne