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…

Meet the owl family

Welcome to my new Blog. Changing the name from my Etsy shop also required a new BlogSpot-account. In my first blog post I want you to meet the owl family.

Like many others I really love the mouse mansion stories, but I’m not a big mouse fan. I’m not afraid of mice, but like a said, not a big fan either. While feeding my guinea pigs I often get startled by mice shooting by. I do really love owls however. There funny looking head without a neck, the big eyes, the collored feathers, yeah, I really love them.

One day while crafting, a little owl appeared in my hands. Based on a drawing of my boyfriend, the owl had everything I had dreamed about. And now it’s time to meet the owl family: father Teun, mother Thelma, and owlets Toby and little Tibby. For the pictures they’re wearing their Sunday best, made by mother Thelma. Teun’s tie had been ironed for the occasion and Thelma wears her favourite dress. Little baby Tibby wears a green flower skirt and looks extra festive with the pink flower in her hair. Toby, a great fan of caps, put on his coolest cap.

In my first post you can read all about their history.

Some years ago Teun and Thelma met at a spring ball. They fell in love at first sight. Together they flew all-over the world, discovering new places. They fell asleep side by side, sitting on a different tree branch each night.

But as Thelma grew older, she started to have a longing. Soon they dreamed about building a nest together… It wasn’t difficult to persuade Teun to find a place to settle down.

A few months later, owlet Toby appeared 

and spring the year later little Tibby was born. 

The owl family was complete. As the little ones grew bigger, it was time to find a bigger space. The love nest, however cosy, started to feel small and suffocating. And Toby and Tibby were ready to leave the nest. 

Guided by their parents they searched for a new home. But every time the family found a nice tree of rabbit hole, Thelma wasn’t happy with the place. She wanted a place to grow vegetables, for the children to play outside and keep pets. One day Thelma noticed an old, ruinous church. That would be perfect for the family! 

Unfortunately the church wasn’t in a good condition and it will need a lot of renovating. But since Teun is quite the handyman, that’s not much of a problem. And they’ll live in the trees nearby for the time being...