Duuk 1 !!!!

Emotional emotional emotional - yes really - our little baby Duuk who used to be 'a big fat zero' is now an eeny teeny 1. Officially no longer a baby. As Eelco was still in Oman on Thursday we told everyone we would hold off celebrations till Friday when the family would be complete again. Everyone stuck to that - except Chandramma who got him an amazingly sweet & cute Indian outfit. (he later got the red powder dot added to his forehead which he promptly wiped on my work skirt.

I had a hard time leaving for work that morning:

 To still have something on the day itself for me - the emotional mom - I organized a dinner with only other moms which was really really nice. When we came home from that there was all the decorating & wrapping to do. Rick woke up when we got home late in the evening and was so chuffed this meant he got to help us.

I forgot to order a cake.....yes I know....bad mom! So ended up fabricating something myself instead with again Rick's help (and a work friend who had the cake mix -;)

Rick & Kaat where great help to make sure everything was exactly like it should be on a Birthday.

With some presents from Singapore (Marlouke), Home and the night before it was quite a collection awaiting Duuk.

and then Eelco arrived from the airport and hence it was time to wake up the Birthday boy. (It is really hard to beat Chandramma to getting Duuk out of bed -;)

Rick & Kaat helped to unpack the presents under close supervision from Duuk.

I got Duuk some secondhand toys which we just packed in a tub with some wrapping paper over the top. Ideal - he easily understood how to get into those!

And by the time Anbu showed up with his present - Duuk got the hang of it!

 We never ate any cake (in the morning), and neither did we have time to blow out the other candles. Too busy playing!

 During the day we did a nice family outing - about which later more. At the end of the afternoon we had invited over Duuk's girlfriends from Windmills for a little party.

 Rahema & Duuk are very happy together and he was clearly impressed by he dress.

 Time to sing & blow out candles again

And another attempt at getting all little ones on a picture together.

 Very cute party!

Windmills Pool

The Pool at the / our clubhouse, promised to be finished in June 2012 (yes before we arrived), was finally completed a couple of weeks ago. The pump has already been broken again since and the kids come out of the pool all blue - as the tiles give off color (?!??!) and hence we are wondering what chemicals are in the water. However - it looks very very good.

Tent

Oma arrive about a week before Duuk's Birthday. To enjoy his present with Oma he got it immediately.

What is that?

 This looks good.

 Woohoo - sticks!

 Oy! Is anyone going to help me with this or what?

And off he was -:)

and again...

Fabulous & very successful present

Happy Chappy

Party-Party-Party

What we do in our weekends? Uhm, we attend parties. Lots of them. Most are for Birthdays of one kid or another... A selection:

Dutch style 1 - at home, with coffee, cake, juice & just play time.

American style - in the main ballroom of a nice hotel. WIth a huge guest list and a charity to support.

Disco music for all

Fun stuff to wear

And to play with

Professional spray tattoo artist, sketch maker and nail artist.

Dutch style 2 - with friends rather then hired help doing the face painting.

All siblings also invited & welcome

Self made cake - instead of from the fancy hotel bakeries

The dress-up box open to all (and no Kaat does not sit still AT ALL when her face is painted -:)

Cake for all

 And some games & lots of free play

 Followed by a home made Piñata

 And Knakworst

 Happy & worn out

Indian style - Amazing, super lavish, with the best of the best, lots of family there and uncle flown in from Mumbai just for the occasion. The Mermaid theme was of course right up Kaat's alley.

 The first 30 min, whilst we were waiting for everyone to arrive - it was photo-shoot time.

 The whole decor looked immaculate and was all in theme.

 Everyone came with parents, and in some cases also with nannies - so lots of help with all the games.

An amazing cake from the Leela Palace Bakery

And as everyone brings their whole family it was very suiting we also brought Oma

Even Kaat's teachers showed up at the party!

So - that is what we do in the weekends. Party - Party - Party!