Monday, February 24, 2014

Penninkmeijer - March 2025

Last update/Next update

The Penninkmeijer Family
Frederik is 70, Bianca is 65, Dirk is 37, Catherine is 35, Elisabeth and Margaret are 4 and Stephanie and Nicholas are 3
(Abby Gradonni and Annie Tora are 34 and Sya Gerrits is 33)
Narrated by Dirk
Our oldest girls turned 4 last January, and I still can't believe they are old enough to go to school. They like taking the bus, even though the school is just around the corner, it passed here anyway so we just let them.
They bring home homework, and Frederik and Bianca are more than willing to help them with it. I think they can't believe they are going to school as well.
They like spending time with the kids anyway. Frederik really enjoys teaching them things. Lately he started to teach them to play chess. I think he lets them win sometimes, but not all the time!
Elisabeth really likes playing the piano. I've thought her some things, but I'm not nearly as good as Laura, so we are thinking about asking her to teach her some more things.
Last year we made the garden child-proof, and now that Elisabeth and Margaret are old enough to enjoy it, they spend almost every free moment playing in the garden. It's nice to see the garden is appriciated this much.
They really hate it when it's raining and they can't play outside. It's a nice opportunity for them to play with their siblings, which they do, but it's not the same as playing outside.
Bianca and Frederik are enjoying the garden as well. We put a midgetgolf-set in, and they really like it. There are still some things we need to do, like adding a pool, but first things first.
Catherine and I have been thinking about redoing some parts of the house. So we sat down with Bianca and Frederik to talk it over and see how they would feel about it.
They seemed a bit surprised at first, but after hearing our ideas they were on board. They liked the ideas and I think they were happy that we didn't want to tear down some walls. So the pool will have to wait.
Frederik used to be a hugh work-a-holic before he retired. And Catherine is a lot like him. I know he still misses it a lot. They can sit and talk about work for hours.
Catherine is more than willing to hear his tips and tricks, and ask him advice about it all. He gets so in to it when he's talking about business.
Even though Catherine is more ambitious than I am, she's not that interested in running for governor next year, and I am.
She's all for the idea of me running for governor though, and gets really excited planning my campaign.
If I get elected or not, I still want my moments with my family. Like every sunday is a day for me, my wife and my kids. We have breakfast with the family but afterward it's just the 6 of us.
We don't do anything special, but it's still important to mee. Taking the kids to the nearby playground is nice.
They all love it, and that's what's important. There are even things for Nick and Steph to do.
And Meg and Beth are happy as long as they are outside.
I think Catherine and I could do more productive things on sundays, but as I said before, I think time with the family is important, after all kids grow up so fast.
I'm pretty sure that in a few years time all 4 of the kids will be making all kinds of excuses when we ask them to go to the playground, or the burgerbar.
But at the moment they still love going out with the 6 of us, and I think we should really enjoy those moments.
It's not always work or family. Catherine tries to get together with her collegefriends, at least once a month. Now that they all have children, it's harder to do, but they still manage.
And evenings are mostly out of the question, but they are more than happy to get together for some afternoon coffee.
Bianca and Frederik take care of the kids during the day. And both Catherine and I really appreciate it, they really do a lot.
But we do try to get them out of the house sometimes. Not that we get tired of their company, but so that they'll have a night for just the 2 of them.
They always seem happier when they come back afterwards, so I'm sure they appreciate their nights out.

Extra:

I did redecorate some of the rooms in this big house, and this is what I did so far:
The livingroom before.
And the livingroom after. I might lower thos frames a bit, and I know I still need to fill them, but that will be done some day :)


And Catherine and Drik's bedroom, before.
And after.

Notes:
  • This update could have been longer, if I just played what I wrote down, but instead I forgot to play half of what I had planned.
    I'm happy with the redecorations though, and I can't wait to redo more of the house, which they currently don't have the money for :)
  • Dirk is the second one I'm introducing to run for governor. I have thought about letting Catherine run, but it's more in his line of work (politics) and I don't like him running against her, so I went with him running.
    The other 2 are Mairi Wagtmans and Chu Min. I'll  tell more about them later in a real election-post at the end of this round.
  • I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to Stephanie and Nicholas growing up to children! It seems like they have been toddlers forever. But starting next round their will be no toddlers in this house, and I can't say I'm going to miss it :)

4 comments:

  1. It's a great house and I love how you have redone some of the rooms, they look much cosier and nicer now!
    A lovely glimpse at their family life, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really like the living room, and the way you arranged the photo frames. Good luck to Dirk in the running, super fun! I'm glad you don't have him running against Catherine, that wouldn't have been very good. They have really cute kids, and I'm excited to see how Stephanie and Nicholas look when they have their birthdays. I'm sure it seems like they've had toddlers forever, because they have! Lots of kids, and all really close in age, no breaks.

    I really liked the park photos, and it was nice seeing Frederik with the kids, and helping with lessons and playing chess, very sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The house looks amazing, Tanja! I have mostly plain bedspreads in my game right now, so I am jealous of your patterned ones, lol!

    I love how massive this family is, yet they all seem to be able to make time for each other and to get out and do their own thing every once in a while as well. It's nice to see. And Dirk is running for governor! How exciting! Is Frederik still the current governor or have you just not updated that page? In any case, I bet Frederik is ready for a break and Dirk is ready for a new challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Librarian The before-pictures were taken when I just build the house, and by that time they didn't have much money left to add a lot of deco-items. It was warmer before the redo, but I still like it much better now!
    I have no idea what to do with the other rooms though, but I'm sure they'll get a make over as well :)

    Thanks for reading!

    Maisie I like the livingroom a lot as well, and I'm hoping to fill those frames soon!
    Even though Catherine is the more ambitious, I'm glad she's not running against Dirk as well, but supporting him instead :)
    You won't have to wait too long to see Stephanie and Nicholas as kids, they turn 4 next year, so in the next January birthdaypost you'll see them. And I really hope it doesn't take me too long to post it, I'm really looking forward to having no toddlers in this house! :)

    Thanks for reading!

    Carla I like playing this family, but I think I will like it a lot more once Stephanie and Nicholas are kids as well, I need a break from all the toddlers in this house!
    The only think I avoid with this family is having all Bianca and Frederik's kids over with their kids, it's just too much. But again when there are no toddlers anymore I think I'll give it a try :)

    The hood council page hasn't been updates, but the hood council hasn't changed either, and I didn't do a think with them at all! So I'll be trying to do more with them after the elections.
    I do think Frederik is ready to step down.

    Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete