Christmas greetings

Christmas greetings from the owl family. 

Halloween 2

Tibby and Toby were ready for Halloween, and Thelma had made herself a nice witches dress as well. She looks beautiful in her purple dress with big collar. But father Teun needed an outfit. He was busy collecting the pumpkins. 

“Teun, what do you want to wear?” Thelma asked her husband. “I would like to be a superhero, like batman!”

Thelma measured some black fabric and started working on the costume. 

Meanwhile Toby and Tibby could very carefully help cutting the pumpkins.

After a little while Thelma came back with some great bat wings. “A bit of batman and a bit of dracula” Toby decided.

The family is ready for an amazing trick-or-treat Halloween. 

Halloween preparations

Halloween is a holiday the owl family loves to take part in. This year the little ones really liked to join in the celebration. But they would need costumes.

“This year, I want to be a ghost”, Toby said to his mum. “But how will other owls recognise you then?” mother Thelma asked, “Isn’t it more fun to be Dracula or spiderman? Or a big dragon spitting fire?” But however Thelma tried, Toby just wanted to be a ghost.

Alright than, she thought, I’ll try to find some fabric and make a costume.  It fits perfectly!

Thelma made a witches hat for herself, but when little Tibby saw the hat, she really wanted to be a witch as well. 

“Please, mommy, can I try the hat on?” She does look really cute in it. Thelma also made her little girl a witches dress. “Shouldn’t you take the flower out of your hair?” Thelma asked. “No, I want to keep it. Witches like flowers too!” Tibby replied.

Don’t they look adorable?

Building a home - part 2

Now Teun has got his tool belt, he really started to make progress. The high white tower, with the round window, makes it look like a real church. Thelma had chosen grey paint for the window frames. After a couple of days of hard labor, all the walls were finished.

But after the doors were finished, the house still needed a roof. 

First, I have to measure it!, Teun thought.

“Hm, this will be quite a lot of work!”, Teun said to himself. After a couple of tries, he had the perfect shape. 

Little Toby helped with the painting. Light blue is his favorite color!

After Teun had placed the roof on the church, he could finaly take a nap. Thelma was extremely proud of her husband when she saw the church. What a lovely home it would be.

The next morning Thelma started to clean the entire church, with a bucket of soapy water. Toby and Tibby gave her a hand. 

Finally the family has a family home! 

Building a home

Ever since Kings Day, Teun hasn’t given himself a day off from work. He worked the entire summer on the family home; a beautiful church. The owl family had hoped to finish the church in summer, so they could life outside and sleep under the stars. But the house wasn’t finished just yet, and fall is coming. Little Tibby has had a cold for quite some days now.

‘We should really try to finish the house as soon as possible’, Thelma said. Father Teun agrees. Little Toby loves to help his dad. And dad lets him help with the non-dangerous things. Like painting the window frames and handing him the tools. 

Teun caries out the dangerous things, like sawing the planks. 

But even though Toby can be a real help, he can also be a bit naughty. ‘Where has my hammer gone…? I’d swear I just had it here a minute ago….’ Teun said.  

And who is hiding behind the window?

Yes, it’s little Toby, holding the hammer he’s not supposed to have.

After a couple of days, Teun had enough. Looking for his tools every time, was taking too long. When he’s working, he can’t keep an eye on Toby the entire time. Mother Thelma had punished her son for taking the tools, but he just wanted to be as cool as his dad. Thelma had another plan.

She made father Teun a tool belt! Now Teun won’t lose his tools anymore.  

He was extremely happy with his new tool belt.

Now the church will be finished in no time! 

King's day

Very early that morning Toby and Tibby woke up. Today it’s King's day! They put on their orange clothing and Teun wears his 'Go Holland hat'.

The family went to Amsterdam and laid down their blanket. Donuts on the table, caps on the ground, and they were ready to start selling!

Tibby is selling the donuts today: “Donuts, only 1 euro each, and I baked them myself!” Lots of hungry owls started gathering around the blanket. Hmmm, they smell so yummie! “Don’t eat all the donuts yourself, Tibby”, Thelma warns.

Toby has sold 2 caps already and has only four left. But at €2,50 a piece they’ll sell like a charm. Teun has promised Toby he may keep his earned money himself. Toby is dreaming about the things he can buy with the money… Maybe something from the others stalls, of maybe he’ll save some more in order to buy the tractor he’ll been wanting to get.

Happy King's day!

Celebrating King's day - preparations

Though father Teun really only has time to work on the church, the little owlets kept nagging him and Thelma about celebrating ‘King's day’. In the Netherlands we celebrate the birthday of our king every year on April 27st. The Dutch have big free markets, where children can sell toys, cookies or other little trinkets. And Toby and Tibby really wanted to participate!

After Thelma admitted she would also like to take part in the national holiday, Teun was convinced: “Alright, we’ll celebrate King's day!’. Toby and Tibby were ecstatic and with the help of mother Thelma they started gathering orange accessories, since orange is the Dutch national color. Toby found his orange cap, he wears every time the Dutch soccer team has to play.

“But what will you be selling on the market?” Teun asked wisely. They hadn’t thought about that yet… And Kingsday is tomorrow! Teun suggested the children could sell some of their stuffed animals, but Tibby was absolutely against it! “I’m not gonna sell my sweetest bunny!”, she said with tears in her eyes. 

Luckely Thelma had a better plan: “Why don’t we bake donuts and decorate them in the Dutch colors?” That plan was approved in no time. And Toby wanted to sell some of his enormous cap collection.

The little ones first helped finishing the orange cloths. Toby and Tibby crafted a nice orange hat for father Teun and Thelma made a dress for herself and a skirt for Tibby. She also made a blanket they could put on the ground. Now they only needed to bake the donuts!

With some eggs, butter, flower and milk they made a batter 

and after the donuts had been baked, the little ones could start decorating them. Thelma had made some icing of orange juice and powdered sugar. Toby and Tibby loved brushing the top of the donuts with icing. 

Besides the orange ones, they owlets also used blue, white and red icing (the colors of the Dutch flag). After a little while they had a big pile ready.

Now we can only hope father Teun won’t eat them all before tomorrow…