Summer in Germany

...is unpredictable. As usual, we're getting really hot weather, cold weather, sunshine, rain, nice breezes and storms. It's not easy to plan and pack suitable clothes for a summer holiday, and as usual, for this year's trip to the sea we packed everything. Shorts and jeans (and dresses for myself), tees and pullovers and jackets, sandals and rain boots, light pjs and extra blankets, rain gear and beach clothes.

But no matter how unstable our weather can be, there is one thing I know for sure: black car seats are torture in hot weather.

For the cutest little niece in the world :-)

Imagine me hopping up and down and clapping my hands, smiling from ear to ear. I'm an auntie :-))

I had almost forgotten what it was like to hold such a teeny tiny baby, with the cutest little nose and mouth and fingers and ears and... Okay, you get the idea. Only three-and-a-half years ago, my boys were just as tiny - no wait, even a tiny little bit tinier. Now they're so grown up, telling funny stories and singing and jumping around and giving me the biggest bear hugs in the world. Three-and-a-half is a wonderful age, but holding that cute little girl brought back memories of holding my own two babies for the very first time. I nearly cried.

Of course I made something special for the newest addition to the family - tadaaaa:

Bucket hats

As we're preparing for our next vacation (woohoo :-)) I noticed that I haven't shown you something I made for the boys last summer. Maybe you remember my preparations for that road trip? Well, it didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped. Our kids just don't like car rides. Full stop. Maybe I'll just sew a heavy curtain to separate the back of the car so the boys can do all their whining and screaming and breaking toys and arguing with each other while we enjoy some peace and quiet in our front seats? Just kidding. This time around, we'll find out if they like flying better than car rides.

The holiday was lovely, though. We stayed at a wonderful cottage with a garden. There were other kids to play with and lots of toys. That gave us a little break from time to time. It wasn't far from the beach, and the weather was fine. So I got the pictures I was hoping for :-) And here they are (drum roll please):

What a fun day at the beach!

The pattern for these bucket hats

Fly me to the moon...

During Kid's Clothes Week October 2014, I made some new hats and neckwarmers for my little astronauts:

Finished.

I'm proud to report that I finished some of the projects from my UFO list just in time for our summer vacation. I've already written about the knit top I've made for myself. Now here are the other projects I completed over the last two weeks:

We're in kindergarten now!

Okay, so here it is. My first blog post. I've been planning to start this blog for quite a while now, but never really found the time to actually get it going. And suddenly, I have a tiny little bit of time to myself. Because my boys are now in kindergarten! Wow, what a huge step. Guess I haven't quite realized what it means yet.

But well, time for my first little show-and-tell. Ta-da:

I sewed little backpacks for my boys. The pattern is lillesol & pelle's "Kindergartenrucksack Rudi". I bought the ebook 1 1/2 years ago, knowing that it would take me some time to finish the bags. And then (suddenly?!) the big day was there - and I had to sew until 6 in the morning to make it in time. Kindergarten started at 9, so I still had time for a short nap, a cup of coffee and a shower. Strange how I need close deadlines to complete some projects...