2008

has been great! But, who knows, 2009 might be even better!

I had some one on one time with the curling iron I bought for myself as a Christmas present. It took me over an hour and a half (!) to get this result:

I had no idea this would take me soooo long! Guess it won't be used unless for special occasions. And this is a very special one.

I wish all of my blogging friends all the best for 2009!

I hope to see more of you during the coming year.

See you next year!

Santa

has been good to me!

I didn't get sick (at least I'm not yet so I'm hoping I had a lucky escape) and... my personal Santa gave me my present on Christmas Eve (he had told me before that I would have to wait until New Year's Eve)!!

So, after two late nights and not doing much around the house yesterday I have finished Eclipse and I must say I loved it! I can't wait until I get the final book!

Thank you Santa ;)

Merry Christmas!

To all of you, from all of us:

a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas picture from 2006

What's a girl to do?

When the rest of the family is sick?

Just wait until it's her turn?

Avoid kisses and cuddles (not me!)?

Secretely reading her copy of Eclipse which is currently sitting underneath the Christmas tree, testing her willpower (no I did not!)?



The house is quiet. All is still, and I seem to be the only one to have escaped the viruses that are currently inhabiting our home. My daughter is on the brink of having an ear infection, my son has got the stomach flu and my husband is starting to run a temperature and is still cold underneath his two blankets.


So much for our Christmas holiday.


I guess this means I will be sick on Christmas day.


Maybe they'll feel sorry for me and give me my present a few days early... ;)

A new friend

May I introduce my new friend? His name is Reese...


Reese's peanut butter cups, sent to me by my snail mail friend Dani from across the ocean! And it gets even better... she also sent me these Christmas PJ's!!! I love the colour and it's super soft... I feel like watching the Polar Express or The Holiday. With a little of Reese's company of course... ;)

Thank you so much Dani! I'm so happy that you introduced me to Reese. :) I don't think he'll stay long, but I'm thoroughly enjoying his company!!!


And here's a little loveliness from today. She hasn't been feeling well these last couple of days (bad cold and running a temperature in the evenings), so I'm happy that the school holiday has begun and she can stay home and get better.

Australia Day

Last week it seemed that Belgium was having an Australia Day. Or maybe it was just my letter box? Anyway, it did make the distance between Belgium and Australia seem a lot smaller, since it felt like my bloggy friends arrived on my doorstep and left me a present.

First a sweet card and gift arrived from sweet Elise. A Christmas bauble complete with kangaroos and koalas now has a special place on my Christmas tree. Thank you so much Elise! I'm sure I'm the only person in Belgium to have one, so I will definitely treasure this unique gift!

Then, another parcel arrived from Down Under, from lovely Tanya. Isn't it just beautiful?! Since it is dated, it will always make me think of the first year I started blogging and made such great friends. Thank you Tanya, for my lovely keepsake gift!

I have to admit that I wasn't feeling up to writing cheerful Christmas cards last week, but of course I'm not forgetting about my snail mail friends. I think I have zero chance that my Christmas wishes will get to you still before Christmas, but you can keep an eye on your mailboxes anyway!

The reason

why I haven't posted/visited much this week.

Well, there are a few.

A friend of mine suddenly lost her husband. I'm not going to elaborate on this, since I think it's a bit too personal but it did have a huge impact on all of us (her son was in Robin's class last year and the year before that and her daughter is only a year ahead of Caitlin).

Then there's the parent committee which has kept me busy and which will continue to keep me busy the next few months.

It's not all bad though... there was a highlight in the middle of the week.

On December 10 Kenneth and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. And of course that kept me busy ;)

and then of course there were his presents which have kept me busy as well:

And yes, I have finished both of them! A colleague of Kenneth had to go to the US and she brought them back for me.

I may not be posting much in January either, since there is still a rectangular package under the Christmas tree (which I won't get to open until New Years Eve..., bummer) and another one is hidden somewhere in the house (which is probably my Valentine's gift... now that's just plain cruel if you ask me...)

Twinkle Twinkle

I recently got some snail mail from Tabitha over at Twinkle Twinkle and inside the package were some very sweet surprises: a box of Ferrero Rocher which is just about my favourite chocolate in the world (imagine Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear saying this) and a star-shaped keychain with a very high bling factor! On top of that I got a beautiful card from Tabitha and one from Daniel and Lauren, her little stars! Thank you so much Tabitha, Dan and Lauren!

That's not the only thing that's been twinkling in my house... As soon as Sinterklaas left (there's a new post on Sinterklaas after his visit below) I pulled out all of my Christmas decorations and started putting up the tree with two very eager little helpers. A little too eager for my taste since the lower part of the tree was suddenly becoming a bit overdecorated... but still, I was glad I was able to share this with my children. After all, isn't that what Christmas is all about?

I like these vintage looking decorations. I believe I bought them even before K. and I started living together. They were marked down after the holiday period and I just couldn't resist them. You can't see it on the picture, but some of the details are outlined in gold.

I buy something new for the tree every year. This year I bought some large sleighbells (top left). And of course I had to put one of my little Red Robins in my own tree. I think he blends right in with the rest of the decorations.

And last but not least: the snowman K. bought for me a couple of years ago. I ♥ it!

Sinterklaas

Yesterday, early in the morning, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten came to our house to deliver presents to the children. It's such fun to see the excitement on their faces when the doorbell rings! They were literally jumping up and down! Here are a few of the pictures we took.

Look at the birdy!

Singing a song for Sinterklaas

trying out one of the new presents

the doctor will see you now ;)

For Ava

Here's the Christmas ornament I made for Ava. I still need to wrap it up and get it ready for shipping, but it should still arrive before Christmas (at least I hope it will). Instead of an actual ornament I made a decorative ribbon to adorn the tree. I embroidered "Ava Superprincess" onto some felt circles. I used her favourite colour (pink of course!) and mixed it with white and added some sequins. Just right for a princess.

I'm hoping Sheye will like it.

December

November has been a slow month for blogging so I thought I'd add just one last post for the month.

Tomorrow it's December. I can hardly believe the last month of the year has already arrived. Although I look forward to the festive month December is for most of the year, it always seems to sneak up on me. Wham, bam,... December 1st is here.

On December 6 we celebrate Sinterklaas in Belgium and in The Netherlands . On that day Saint Nicholas and his helper Black Peter (Zwarte Piet in Dutch) bring toys for the children. The legend of Sinterklaas is based on the story of Nicolaas van Myra, a very generous bishop who died on December 6 in the year 343.

Santa Claus is actually derived from Saint Nicholas: apparently the Dutch immigrants took this custom with them when they crossed the big blue. There are a few differences though. One of them being that Sinterklaas rides a white horse instead of using a sleigh, and there are no reindeer to be seen anywhere, neither on land nor in the sky. Now of course December has become an expensive month, since we celebrate both Sinterklaas and Christmas...

The kids have made their lists already and placed them in their shoe by the fireplace (well, here at our house it's placed next to the TV cabinet since we don't actually have a fireplace, haha) a few days ago. Of course Black Peter came by during the night to collect the wish lists and he left some chocolate and cookies behind in return. On December 5 Sinterklaas is visiting the kids at school and then the next day he will come to the house bearing gifts.

And as soon as he leaves I'll be putting up my Christmas tree!

Here one moment

gone the next.

We had snow over the weekend! Not just some tiny flakes that melted once they hit the ground, no, no. We had the real thing: a waterfall of snowflakes covering each and every inch as far as you could see. Such a magical sight. A true Winter Wonderland.

The kids had fun playing in the snow but since we were at a friend's house at the time, I have no pictures to show you. So I thought I'd include some of last year (from the only day we had the real thing).

Watch out!!!

Robin's trousers were soaking wet from the snow and I just couldn't let him get into the car like that because he'd be half frozen by the time the heating in the car got to a decent temperature. Creative minds however usually come up with a solution (or worried mama's) so I replaced the wet trousers by.... my husband's sweater! It kinda looked like he was wearing baggy pants (with his legs and feet inside the sleeves) and it was only for the ride home. Well, at least he was warm!

Now of course all that's left are slippery roads and here and there you can still see the remains of a few snowmen. For all we know it may very well be the only snow we'll have this winter (which is officially still about a month away), but I do hope we'll get some more. Preferably during the Christmas holidays. It'd be nice to have a white Christmas...

Prime Minister

My son was elected Prime Minister this week in his class. The Prime Ministers represent the class in school meetings and he had his first meeting yesterday. He seemed sad that they will only be having 2 more meetings during the schoolyear. He was very excited about the election and of course both K. and I were very proud of him. Who knows where this may lead ;)

I guess you could say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I'm quite active in the parent council myself (which is actually one of the reasons why I haven't posted much this month), especially when it comes to "being creative". I do tend to run out of energy towards the end of the schoolyear but I love looking back at the things I helped to accomplish.

Having absolutely nothing to do with this post I did want to add that I also managed to finish my Chocolate Lovers' Diet book. There were a few twists in the plot that I didn't expect and I had a few laughs, and absolutely no chocolate while reading it!

Guess

who got a digital camera? (You had to save points with the newspaper and then you could get it for free. She got it from my MIL.)

OK, so the quality of the pictures isn't any good and they all came out blurry, but she had so much fun!!!

My Favourite Spot in Winter

That's the title of this beautiful illustration by Mandy from Belle and Boo and the best thing about it is that she is giving it away for free on her blog!! Go and leave her a festive comment and if you are lucky, this awesome print may end up underneath your Christmas tree!

Oh, she will also be having some Special Offers in her shops, so if you still have to do some Christmas shopping Belle & Boo is the right place!

Starry starry night

My son was looking at the stars through his telescope.

Then my daughter said: "And now I want to look through the bazooka!"

Starry night by van Gogh

There were no stars to be seen tonight. Only the blinking light of an airplane passing by.

Good friends are like stars

You don't always see them

But you know they're always there.

The Chocolate Lovers' Diet

A friend of mine lent me this book. I still have to start it, but it looks promising (come on, I mean, it says Chocolate!): on the back it reads



Survival tips for times of stress

1. Take deep breaths


2. Count to ten


3. Eat chocolate

Do I really have to count to ten first?

And I just have to add this: my friend speaks English and my son overheard us taking about this book. We were saying that it's "chicklit", but then my son said:"Mom, it's not 'chicklit', it's 'chocolate'!!!

Happy Halloween!

picture taken in 2007

a 4-eyed monster and a peacock

Decorating for Halloween is becoming increasingly popular in Belgium but not many kids go out trick-or-treating. I think it'll catch on by the time my kids have kids (imagine that!)...

Too cute to leave out...

All facepainting by mommy

Wintertime

Last night we switched over to daylight saving time or wintertime as we call it which means we get an extra hour of sleep. In theory.

The kids however cannot be fooled by our clock doing a backward flip and wake up at their normal hour: around 6.30 am. Caitlin woke up first and we were able to persuade her to 'rest' (not 'sleep', of course, no, no) a little in our bed. Robin however woke up about 5 minutes later. He has an alarmclock in his room and has been told time and time again that he should not get out of bed before 6.30 am. Which he didn't. Because his parents forgot to adjust his alarm clock to wintertime...

We heard him going down the stairs and we whispered loudly that he should get back to bed.

Robin: "But it's 6.30."

Forgetful Parents: "But it's wintertime now."

Caitlin: "Does this mean it's snowing outside?"


A smile, a sigh and an early morning. For the rest of the family. I'm the lucky one, I was fortunate enough to stay in bed a little longer. Thanks to my sweet husband who gets up early 99% of the time.

My boy

Last weekend the kids watched High School Musical II. I guess this movie means to them what Grease meant to us back in the day. I still prefer Grease myself, but maybe I'm just getting old.

Anyway, they watched the Dutch version which means everything is dubbed except for the songs. During the song "Gotta Go My Own Way" we heard a little sniffle. To our surprise it was Robin who was drying off some tears that had rolled down his cheek.

"I always get sad watching this part" he said, and a little smile came through.

Oh, my dear boy. I'm so glad no one has told you yet that boys don't cry. You melted my heart right then, right there.

No comment

Apparently I'm not the only one who can't leave comments on any of your blogs. Blogger seems to be having a bad day...

Need sparkle?

Elise sent me a delicious looking sparkling birthday card

and some gorgeous stationary (also with a little sparkle) all the way from Australia.

Who knows, if you're one of my lucky snail mail friends, you just might find one of these in your mailbox one day...

Drumroll please

I know you have all been waiting patiently (or maybe not so patiently) for me to announce the winners of my second bloggy give-away. Sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but it's been busy around here lately. So busy that I have not been able to blog or even check up on my blogging friends as often as I would have liked to. I hope to catch up on all your blogs over the weekend.

But, first things first, here's the moment you have all been waiting for.

This morning 20+ names went into the hat (a few smart people took me up on my offer to double their chances) and I had a very pretty little innocent hand to draw two winners with her eyes closed.




Congratulations Dani* and Hannah**!!! A set of ornaments will be coming your way as soon as I finish them - yes, I've been too busy for that too - but don't worry, they'll arrive before Christmas ;)

* Dani: Smart move to double your chances!
** Hannah, could you please e-mail me your address (Click on 'view my complete profile' top right of my blog)? Thanks!

Let's recap

One hundred and one posts.

It started with a little introduction in Hello World, this is me. Then I posted about my Beautiful Blogs introducing the artwork of Belle & Boo. I got my very first comment on that post and it made me feel like i was Catching a Glimpse of how friendly the blogging community can be.

After that I showed you My First Etsy Buy, a super cute button from Belle & Boo. In that same post I wrote about how the blog of Sheye Rosemeyer had affected me ever since I discovered it. In Please don't cry when I'm driving I explained about the picture in my blog header and that wrapped up my posts for January.

In Before the tears I showed you some more pictures of my Little Sweethearts and in Preparing for a Royal Ball I wrote about my little girl's upcoming 5th birthday, a day that would be dominated by princesses and the colour pink. Proof of that is shown in Oh how time flies.

Then I had to spend Valentine's day without my Sweetheart which left me with some time to think so I wrote my Mind versus Heart post, a post you may have seen On the Flipside since I was recently a guest blogger there (thank you Kellan!). And perhaps A Little Miracle may have had something to do with that previous post as well.

In Kiss the Cook I boast about my husband's cooking skills. He will also be referred to as a Domestic God, but more on that in a later post. In my second post in March we had to say Goodbye to one of our little fish. The kids still talk about him sometimes. Then we were Anxciously Awaiting our new camera. We show off our first pictures in Capturing the Moment and My Favourite Picture is definitely still one of my favs.

You can see how a princess has fun in the garden in BOOT-ilicious and the Easter Bunny wishes you a happy Easter a day early in Look who hopped in. The day after that the kids went egg hunting: 3, 2, 1: GO! Although winter was over we still witnessed the birth of a snowman in Wait until spring, Mr. Snowman. Then our Easterbunny got a bad case of otitis but I found myself in Chocolate Heaven.

A thought had been playing in my mind so I asked my commenters whether they felt I was Etsy worthy. It still took me a while to actually get my shop set up but Walt Disney's quote: All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them eventually made me sit down and get to it. In Cute as a Button I found the perfect place for my first etsy buy: on a cardigan that goes with a dress I made for my daughter.

Some of you may know that, thanks to my Domestic God I have a bun in the oven. Well, sometimes. Other times I have cupcakes in the oven, or lasagna. A little peek gave you exactly what it says at a little project the kids and I started. In The one with the Castle Cake I had googled around for some inspiration for my son's Knight Party.

Some days I still feel like there is So little time to do all the things I would like to do. I was Tagging Along after I read a post on Elise's blog, telling you 6 random things about myself and in Never mind the rain we took the kids to an amusement park. Look who's here introduced the little bear my son made and of which you had seen a little peek.

Then in May we had our very own Knight's tale and I also welcomed you to the Grand Opening of my Etsy shop. More Happy Days are lying ahead. My business cards arrived Just in Time to be included in a gift I made for a friend of mine and I simply had to Thank You for all your kind wishes upon opening my shop.

Mother's Day left me with a quickly disappearing tower of Ferrero Rochers (which of course had everything to do with the sun and nothing with me) and since my Sweetheart had to leave that morning for India, we left him a little Surprise. (First picture of me on my blog!)

If you haven't tried my Belgian Pancakes recipe yet, you should think again: they are Just Yummy! And then I was finally able to say "It is time" for my bloggy giveaway! That was a fun post!

My blog isn't always about me. No, It's not about Me, really. Well, maybe just the bottom of that post since I did include a little travel wishlist. Then there was a pictureless post in The Gift of Wisdom and another kind of gift in Gift Giving where I announced the winner of my bloggy giveaway.

In June my daughter asked me to Kiss the Pain Away which I happily did. And then I had this sweet little idea in my head about making some Snail Mail friends. Best bloggy decision ever! If you are not a snail mail friend of mine yet, but would like to be then send me your address and date of birth and we can send eachother a Christmas card!

In Tag your 8 you can find out more about myself. I'm happy to say I already accomplished one of my "8 things I want to do before I die" list (Thank you Tabitha!)! My bloggy friends left me some kind wishes and kept checking in on me after I had my wisdom tooth pulled. Ouch!

A little about me gave you some info on my Belgian background. Look at what the kids made for their dad on Father's day. Shortly after my daughter drew a piece of Art that makes my heart sing. I'm so glad I took a picture of it.

We had a baby over to sleep but we hardly noticed she was there since it was a Silent night. Then Tabitha got the snail mail ball rolling in A tale of Cats and Snails.

In one post I wondered: When's Summer's coming. Now I think: Is it over already?

I've still not gotten into trouble for being in the CIA. I have found that I have colleagues all over the world, but I will not disclose their secret identities.

My heart swells with pride when my son brings home his report card. I hope I can keep saying that in the coming years.

Sisterhood. Well that post may have been a bit boring ;)

Bloggy giveaway: update. Here you finally get to see what I sent the winner, Erin. Then I had Butterflies in my tummy, some of which have flown away to far away places thanks to Dani. I've just seen now that there were some extra (sweet) comments on this post!

I guess A Sales Girl & a Play Date are always better than a play girl and a sales date. There is more about my little sweethearts in Bonnie & Clyde. My first Treasury on Etsy ever has been deleted by now, so it's too late to check it out if you hadn't.

I have happy feet whenever I think back to my first sale on Etsy. Since some e-mails got Lost in space I sent an urgent SOS to Pigs in Space. They have yet to get back to me.

Perhaps a little late I welcomed Blake into the world in A new addition. Then I went undercover for a while but for a good reason: We were on a break!

Then it was time to send some small MAG(net)IC gifts to my snail mail friends. You can find out what my loved ones think of me in Sweet Little Tag. And in Coming soon I introduced my Chocolate & Strawberry bookmark.

Beary Busy got you all thinking about what could be hidden in that adorable packaging.

The sweetest post ever was not written by me but by my husband, wishing me a happy Anniversary and proposing to me once more. Of course I said YES!!! After all, he is my Win for life.

In Unwrapping you finally find out what was inside that Beary Special wrapping.

Thanks to a very [jen-er-uhs] person I now have my very own personalised bookmark. One can never have too many books - but too many bloggy friends would have been a good answer too. Divine Brown is a post that does not include Hugh Grant but Heat(h) does include a little bit Ledger. One can never have enough of these either.

Memory Lane Monday took me a few years back. Not a single tear fell when writing this post, but some may have when writing this one on some sweet Memories.

On Etsy I found Apples, Pears & some cute Bears and posted them in a treasury.

I enjoyed My kind of movie with my son and now I will forever be known as the older version of Queen Suzan the Gentle. If I ever get to meet Prince Caspian I will take him to Mi Casa. Would that cause some Blushing?

I was Sending up a pink balloon for Ava's birthday and joined the Etsy auction to support the Nielson Family in August. I hope some day they will be able to look back on all this and wonder when the blogging community came together to raise all that money. Their children will answer: it happened While you were sleeping.

Tweet tweet brought a little bird into my life and that of my Etsy shop and it has flown off to several destinations since. Ha, Mr. who-did-not-think-much-of-it! Then, Off they go, my own little sweethearts on their first day of school.

Up close & personal was exactly that and there was even a little More here. You know by now that my daughter looks Pretty in Pink so we signed her up for ballet classes. Some french song lyrics in Le temps c'est de l'amour made me think about living in the now.

The first video on my blog featuring my Ballerina Girl and a little break-dancer was posted in Craving attention.

In Don't forget I reminded you about the Etsy benefit for the Nielson family. It turned out to be a huge success with the total sales surpassing 10,000 USD! I had donated a few Robin Red Breast ornaments and I was so excited that it got featured!

Winter may come has some beautiful pictures of my daughter and her new coat. Then I found out I got tagged by Amanda so I was Tagging along in this post. And then it hit me: Only 83 days till Christmas!!!

Find out who My hero is in this post.

And then, we came pretty Close to my 100th post!! Three, Two, ... Hooray!! 100 posts and a birthday!!! Now wasn't that a Simply Beauty Full recap of my blogging adventure so far?

Next week I'll draw two lucky winners who will win a set of Christmas ornaments. Stay tuned! I might even do another 100 posts...

Simply Beauty Full

The birthday girl Tania got a birthday girl from Tanya. Isn't she just beautiful???

This Willow Tree handcarved figurine arrived on my doorstep today all the way from Australia from my dear snail mail friend Tanya.

Tanya, thank you so, so much! This little girl makes my heart sing (and my eyes tear - with happiness of course).

I also wanted to thank my other friends: Tabitha (I love my butterfly card!), Dani and Amanda who made me feel really special by wishing me a happy birthday on their blogs (you too Tanya!) and all the people who left kind wishes at their blogs or mine. Thank you!

Three, Two,...

...

Yes, that's it. Just Three Two. Or maybe I should write it 32?



As some of you already know, it's my birthday today and although I would of course rather still be 23 (oh, what a wonderful year that was: We got married, we bought our house and our son was born!) I'm very happy to be turning 32. The grey hairs have been turning up ever since I was 23 so I've gotten used to them by now...

I'm feeling quite festive today!

'Cuz...

This is also my 100th post!!!

(OK, so I did plan it a little to have my 100th post coincide with my birthday, but only after my 90th post or so, when I saw that I could strech it).

I'd love to buy you all a round of drinks but since that is probably not going to happen, I came up with something else. In order to celebrate both occasions I will be doing another give away. One for each happy occasion.

I will be giving away two sets of two Christmas ornaments, so this time there will be 2 lucky winners! The winner will get two ornaments, design chosen by me (Hey, it's my birthday). All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post before 10/10 (how's that for a nice number?!). You can even double your chances by doing a post on your own blog about my give away. Just let me know if you have, and I'll put your name in the hat twice.

And now I'm off to eat some Brownies my Domestic God made for me...Happy Birthday to me!

Close

A message to my children:

I hope you will always be close like this.

Supporting each other.

Being able to forgive and forget after a fight.

Taking care of each other.

Singing songs together.

There may come times when you might not get along,

but even if that time should come,

know that you will never be alone.

Remember how close you were.

Cherish this moment.

My hero

Just the other day, when I was sitting behind my computer I thought I saw something fall onto the ground. You know, when you catch a glimpse of a movement out of the corner of your eye?

When I turned to pick it up I quickly decided against it since the thing that fell down hadn't exactly fallen down... it was a huge spider and it was sitting a mere 30 cm away from me.

Lucky for me my heroic savior was still downstairs and he quickly took care of 'the job'. I honestly think that I would rather kiss a (preferably non-poisonous) snake than kill a spider. I don't want to go near it and I certainly do not want to crush it. So if my heroic savoir no. 1 is not around, I have a different remedy. I bring my other heroic savoir to the scene: Mr. Dyson. He's even less messy than hero no. 1.

Bye bye spider!

Only 83 days

till Christmas!


I've been busy lately working on a custom order for a lovely lady that contacted me through Etsy. She had ordered a Robin Red Breast Ornament and she wanted a few more ornaments for her Christmas tree, so I've been looking for designs and I've been making a few more decorations:




I'm spontaneously singing Jingle Bells everytime I look at them (but only in my head though. For now.)

Tagging along

I've been tagged by Amanda of Penny 'n' Pounds to blog about 6 unspectacular quirks that I have. I googled "quirks" first, and since it means "odd habits" I thought I could give it a try.

Here are the rules:

• Link the person who tagged you
• Mention the rules on your blog
• Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
• Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
• Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

1. If the clock in the kitchen doesn't work I get real cranky. Even though I have a watch on my wrist and there's a digital clock on the microwave, I ALWAYS look at that clock. Since we have been using rechargeable batteries I get cranky more often (I know they're better for the environment, but they don't last long!)
   
2. Before I go to bed I check if my children are still breathing. Since they are 8 and 5 I presume this habit has turned into a quirk.
   
3. I sometimes check the ending of a book before reading all the chapters.
   
4. No matter how much I eat for dinner, I can always eat a little chocolate directly afterwards. Not that I always do so, I just can.
   
5. I make lists for everything.
   
6. I like spaghetti with meatballs. If the meat is just "scattered" through the spaghetti (sorry, don't know the right word for this) I don't like it.

I'm not going the follow all the rules: I'm not tagging anyone else. But, if you would like to "tag along" and tell me six unspectacular quirks about yourself, then please leave me a comment so I can check out your post.

Winter may come

She's ready for it!

The kids and I went shopping for winter coats this afternoon and the moment my daughter laid eyes on this coat she fell in love with it. I did make her put on another one, just to see what it looked like, but I let her have this one anyway. It's just so her.

She also chose a new hat and scarf and although they were quite expensive (I felt a little guilty about spending all that money on one afternoon), she just looks so good in them!

Robin has a new coat too, but I wasn't able to take his picture since he had soccer training.