25 reasons...

...why fall is just the best!

1. Crunchy leaves

2. All the colours

3. Jeans and boots

4. Fresh apples from the tree

5. Candles and books

6. Pumpkin spice latte

7. Pumpkin spice everything. Period.

8. Carving pumpkins

9. Family movie nights

10. Blankets and coffee

11. The smell of cinnamon

12. Sunday afternoon naps

13. Hot soups on rainy days

14. Ankle boots

15. Loads and loads of books

16. October

17. Going to th pumpkin patch

18. Hot tea

19. Baking treats and pies

20. Halloween

21. Hot apple cider

22. Crafting and sewing

23. Fall decorations

24. Pumpkin pie

25. All of the above.

Love, Sanna

The last few days...

Summer break is over soon. BigL is going back to school on Wednesday, first grade will start on Thursday for LittleL.

We do celebrate first day of first grade over here, so I got decoration and cakes on my mind. Plus, LittleL developed some anxiety over his first days at schoo and we really try to help him with that. I do understand though. Wouldn't we all be nervous before a major change??

There are no real plans for the last two days of summer break. Apart from Wednesday evening, when the firstgraders and families will meet at church to get blessings for the coming school year. I am really looking forward to it and I can need any blessings out there.

It will not only be a change for the LittleL, but for me, too. Until summer break, LittleL was a daycare/kindergarten until 4pm. Now, I will have to pick him up at 1.30pm. This usually was the time I had with BigL for lunch, homework, learning and just spend some time together. Or me having a nap. From Thursday on, it will be the three of us. Homework with two kids. Learning with two kids. Not sure about how there will be room for naps. Oh my.

I am looking forward to this new chapter. At the same time, I am wondering how it all will work out.
The school (both schools, actually) are just down the road (with one busy street to cross) and I want LittleL to get confident and safe in traffic, so he can walk to school on his own sometime at the end of the year. It will save time, because I don't have to drive to daycare anymore. It means ten more minutes of sleep. Heaven! (Or a silent cuppa in the wee hours of morning!)

To everybody out there heading a new school year, be blessed. Have fun along the way. Be patient and successful. Work hard and be ambitious. It will be a great year!

All my love, Sanna

Fall break

It's fall break! Woohoo! As I am a teacher, it means I get two weeks off and have some time for family, friends and myself. We headed to the Dutch coast for some days and enjoyed the beach, cold sunshine and coffee in the beach café. Big L didn't go with us as he was experiencing the joys of his first vacation without us. He came back on Friday more than tired, but happy. He went to bed early and after fourteen hours of good old sleep, he was back to his happy self.

Yesterday, we went to the pumpkin patch and the kids carved pumpkins and afterwards we went to my cousins place for coffee and cookies. It was such a great and relaxing day and I feel like my batteries are full again. And then today I got an unplanned day for myself and I curled up on the couch, read my first Christmas novel and went to town. Which was crazy as we have two holidays tomorrow and on Wednesday.

Tomorrow we are having family over to celebrate Halloween and I got a it over the top with decorations and the candy table. My children will suffer from sugar shock tomorrow night. I will post about party over the next days, I think.

So, from my family to yours, have a great Halloween and don't eat all your kids' candy.

Love, Sanna

Long time no see

Oh man, I cannot believe it's been six weeks since my last post. Time really flies, especially as we were so busy these last weeks.

We celebrated DH's 40th birthday and Linus' fifth. We are back to school for some time now and heading into fall break in two weeks time. So life is back to normal and fall really is here. The leaves are yellow and red and orange and I am back on wearing scarves and boots. We light candles with our tea time and cuddle up with books and movies. The kids play Playmobil for hours straight and I get lost in book after book.

Fall really is a wonderful time. It took me some days to adjust to real shoes (no flipflops!) and the cooler weather, but now I am just loving it. Right now, Linus is in the backyard and playing with his little friend, while I will do some laundry and then will start reading my first Christmas book. Call me crazy, but it's only six more weeks until December. I already have the first presents, so I am getting slowly prepared.

But before that, we will have a Halloween party with my SIL's family and I got a bit crazy with decorations and stuff. I am planning on doing a candy table with creepy snacks and I might have shopped Halloween t-shirts for the kids. It might seem too much or over the top for you, but I feel like it's the best I can give my kids...memories. Being a good parent is about a lot of things, but I will be so happy when in twenty years, they will remember that night and talk about it with gleaming eyes. Like "Do you remember that year Halloween when mom made us eat candy brains?" or "I will never forget the night when we ruined the carpet with  fake blood!". I will laugh with them and be happy to have created a memory that lasts a lifetime.

Because when looking back on the best days of my life, I remember the fun I had, the love I felt and the people that were by my side.

Have a great week! Love, Sanna

There they are!

Oh, what a lovely week we are having so far! We are in the middle of fall break and we are enjoying ourselves a lot.

We started with a trip to Ikea and the living room make over. We got rid of all our dark brown furniture and replaced it with white, which is just so lovely. Look.

Then we spend some time at home to relax, read, watch a movie. We had my parents over for coffee and I made a NY cheesecake, which was so yummie. Today we went out for breakfast to a lovely café with family. Now, DH and Big L are sorting throught his millions of Playmobil pieces to sell them at ebay before Christmas. It really is a great task. Not!

I am using the free time to sew and fill up the shelves of my little online shop. I am happy to announce that the first calenders for 2017 are available! Go and have a look! (Link on my sidebar.)

You can buy stuff from all over the world, shipping is world wide. For questions, just write a private message.

Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway (click)! I am shipping this stuff to wherever you are! It's free, so join!

Love, Sanna