Gradonni - December 2025

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The Gradonni Family

Kürt is 65, Debby is 57, Reinout is 38, Abby is 34, Brian is 6, Sarah and Simon are 1

(Annie is 34, Erik is 32, Owen is 6, Claire is 3 and Celia is 2)

Narrated by Kürt

When Reinout and Abby decided to have another kid, I don't think they thought about twins. Then again neither did Debby and I all those years ago.

And now that they are back on the potty-training thing, they're learning first hand that it's a little bit harder than having going through this with only 1 child.

The twins are doing great though. They are getting pretty independant sometimes, which is sweet to see. 

I still don't know what Brian thinks about being a big brother. Sometimes he sits in his room for hours, on his own.

But he also plays with Simon and Sarah, and seems to really enjoy it. Maybe he's just waiting for them to be older, to actually be able to play his games, instead of eating crayons.

Abby tries to spend a lot of time to the children. She plays with them.

And reads them stories, whenever she can.

Her job is still important to her though, and even though she took some time off during the holidays, she still spend some time on her crafting table.

Even though both Abby and Reinout are enjoying being parents, I don't think we need to expect more grandchildren from them. Which is fine by me, but Debby would love some more grandkids.

Because neither Owen nor Brian have sibling close to their age, Debby arranged for Owen to come here, so the boys could play together.

They are only a month apart, and have been doing almost everything together since they were born.

We've been heading for a white Christmas, and the boys have taken well advantage of that.

They like being outside, and the snow hasn't stopped them, if anything it made them more eager to go outside.

If Debby and Abby wouldn't call them in for lunch, they would spend entires days outside untill they turned blue.

To get them away from the house, Debby and I took the boys downtown for some Christmas shopping.

Owen kept telling us, well naggin actually, how much he wanted a violin, but that didn't stop him from pointing out everything he wanted in the toystore.

Afterwards we took the to White Castle for some burgers. I think you can please any kid with a day like this.

When they finished their burgers they couldn't wait to go to the small playground outside, there just wasn't stopping them.

Debby and I didn't mind, it gave a few minutes of peace and quiet for us, before climbing in a cab home with them.

As much as I love spending time with my grandkids, I'm more than happy to go back to the greenhouse after spending a few hours with them.

Reinout has the idea about opening a garden store, selling plants and flowers and such, but this would mean I would lose his help in the greenhouse and the store.

We don't see eye to eye on this thing. I don't mind him chasing his own dreams, but I would rather combine it with the current store, but he said something about not combining a clothing store with pet store.

I decided to just not think about it at the moment, and just focus on what we have a the moment. Mia Mertens runs the store 3 days a week, and she also supplies it with her own produce.

She's doing a great job, and the customers really seem to like her. We're having weekly meetings to go over everything that has happened in the store, since we don't work on the same days.

I'm really happy with her work, and  I hope we can continue this agreement. Especially when Reinout goes through with his own plans.

Debby is always all about her household, kids and grandkids. It's hard to get her out of the house whent the trip doesn't have anything to do with either of those things.

It's been years since we went on a date, and I know I should make work of that myself as well, but we both don't mind those things. The girls however think we need to get out more, so they insisted on going for a coffee with their mom.

I was surprised Debby actually went, and didn't come up with an excuse not to go. But the girls were pretty persistent, and I don't think they would have taken any excuse. I do think Debby had a nice time.

Abby and Reinout are so different from us when it comes to going out. They jump on any occasion to go out, and insist on at least one night a week for just the 2 of them.

Even though they aren't married, which Debby would like the see different, they seem the have a good thing going, and if those datenights are so important to them, they should have them. Debby and I don't mind watching the kids on those nights.

On Christmas day Annie and Erik came with their kids. It was nice having the whole family together, all the kids and grandkids under one roof for a few hours.

Even though they saw each other quite a lot during their Christmas break, Owen and Brian always have fun together.

And even the 4 youngest gathered around the activity table and had a nice time together.

We didn't see Debby a lot before dinner. She spend the entire day in the kitching, preparing the turkey.

And as always it tasted great! Everyone loved the food being together.

After dinner, Debby made time to play with the kids, and be with the rest of the family.

The highlight of the day was of course when we gave the kids their gifst. Even though I think Brian and Owen had a pretty good idea what they were getting, after all they went with us to the store, they still were thrilled receiving their gifts.

When everybody left, and Abby and Reinout went upstairs, Debby and I took a few minutes to ourselfs. Talk about our lives so far and how lucky we've been with our kids and grandkids. That's all of a datenight we need.

Notes:

• Loooong update, I know! Who knew Kürt had so much to tell? But I actually took pictures of everything I planned to tell, which doesn't happen quite a lot.
• Debby and Kürt aren't the lovey-dovey kind of couple, never were actually. Kürt worked his whole life, in the greenhouse and the store, while Debby focussed on the household, and raising the kids (she did always wanted more than 2), but that was what they agreed, and they are still a good couple.
• Reinout and Abby really are different from them. They both have jobs, Reinout works at the store and in the greenhouse, and Abby wants the make it as an architect. They both wanted a family, but they rely on her parents to help them with the kids quite a lot.
• About the arrangement with Mia Mertens; Mia has a greenhouse as well, and the crops the harvest are also sold at Gradonni Market. Mia is the manager, but I never let her come to the lot when Kürt is there. She runs the store 3 days a week, and Kürt (and sometimes Reinout) open it the other 3 days. Since the never run it together, they have weekly meetings about the running the store.
• So this was the last update of this round! I can't believe I've finished it! Now it's time for me to update the profiles, update the banner, schedule, school-page, .... But I'm really glad to have finished it, and there's quite a lot to look forward to next round!