Butterflies in my tummy

I hope some of these butterflies will be flying off to new homes around the world soon.

They are bookmarks and you can simply slide the butterfly over the page to mark where you've stopped. Behind the butterfly-embossed white cardstock is an extra layer of luxurious irridescent cardstock. There is place for one initial in the heart shaped opening of the butterfly so this item can be personalised if you so wish.

I've listed this pink one on Etsy already and I'll be adding gold, silver, copper and blue later.

I'll also keep working on taking better pictures, as I'm still not 100% happy with them: I would like the white to actually appear as white and not this shade of grey.

Bloggy giveaway: update

Remember my bloggy giveaway from last month?

Erin won a surprise which I mailed of on June 4th and since she has now received it after coming home from a business trip I can finally show you what I sent her!!!

Her daughter's name is Mia Bella so here's what I sent Erin:

An embroidered bib and a little matching hedgehog with her name on it!

Giving away something felt really good, so I'll probably do it again in the future.

Who knows, you might win something next time...

Sisterhood

If my sisters and I had been a popgroup similar to the spice girls, our names would have been "Material Girl", "Dull Girl", "Tough Chick" and "Cry Baby". If you know I was born second you also know which one I would have been. I hope it's obvious I didn't choose my own name.

I may lead a dull life from their point of view, I also lead a very happy life. So I can live with dull. After all, that's just what they are thinking. I have laughter, love & life. If that's dull then I will happily continue this dull life till it ends.

We also would have been short of one spice girl. The fifth one. The one who could actually sing.

My heart swells with pride

My son received his report card today and I cannot begin to tell you how proud it made me.

I did tell him however. I think that underneath all the cuddles, kisses and kind words he got the message.

We are so, so proud.

He said he worked very hard for it. We smiled.

My son is not the kind of child that starts homework straight away after coming home. It usually takes quite a few reminders from us that there is still homework to be done. But eventually he will do it. He does however pay a lot of attention to what the teacher is saying in the classroom. That's hard work. He's interested in lots of different things. I admire that. And he actually just said that 65 days of summer holiday is really long and that he would prefer 35.

I think he'll change his mind about that last one when he grows up.

CIA

I have a confession to make.

I actually belong to the CIA. I go on missions 7/7.

I secretely spy on my suspects until it's time for the kill.

I am a ...

Chocoholic In Action

Just devoured one of these:

Delicious.

It's been over two years since I've had coca cola or pepsi, but not many days have passed without some form of chocolate. I'd sure have a hard time giving them up.

Are you in the CIA too?

Summer's coming

The wind came from the South today.

I know.

I had to push extra hard on the pedals of my bike.

There was a slight drizzle this morning.

Just enough to make you wish you had put on a hat.

My dresses have been sitting in my closet,

untouched.

Summer is coming,

but when?

(Illustration by Sarah Jane)

A tale of Cats and Snails

What do cats and snails have in common?

Nothing you say? Well, I beg to differ because...

Look what arrived via snail mail in my mailbox!

A cat in a hat. Sent to me by my dear bloggy friend Tabitha from the UK. Thanks so much Tabitha.

PS: I love the colours! They actually coordinate perfectly with my business cards!!

Silent night

Last Friday little Elise, my husband's goddaughter, came to our house for a sleep-over together with her big brother. At only 4 months, Elise slept through the entire night. We hardly knew she was there. I even went to check (in the middle of the night!) if she was still breathing.

The boys enjoyed themselves doing this:

Yes, it is indeed the Las Vegas edition of Monopoly! Kenneth and I bought it on what we call our 'pre-honeymoon' in the States ten years ago. Of course it's in English but the boys were creative and made up their own game.

Because K. is the godfather he received this wonderful present at the baptism. I haven't seen anything like it before and I hardly dare to touch it (Well, it's no snow globe so I don't actually have to touch it, just an occasional dusting will do). Today it makes me think not only of little Elise but also of Elise in Australia who may be meeting her little boy as I write this.

How amazing, life growing in your belly.
Little kicks that bring a smile to your face.
Dreams of meeting that little person.
Hoping that everything will be OK.

I can no longer remember how that felt
and I do miss those days
and though I doubt whether I will ever again
I wish I could for a moment feel that way...

Art that makes my heart sing

My daughter drew this on her Magna Doodle:

I think she's ready to illustrate her first children's book!

I actually wrote this post on Sunday but at that time Blogger didn't want to upload my picture. Today (Monday) I was able to upload the picture, but according to Blogger I posted this on Sunday evening. I know the message was saved as 'concept' yesterday, but is there no way to change the date to Monday?

Edit: A little "Google"-ing fixed this problem already!

Father's day

Father's day was actually last Sunday, but I got a little side-tracked with the dentist appointment. I still wanted to show some pictures of what our day looked like.

It's one of the few days that I get up before my husband does. I'm very spoiled in that department, so the least I can do is set the breakfast table and make him feel extra special that day.
Here's my daughter 'reading' her poem.



Introducing my husband!


Love the shoes!
The kids had to say why they loved their dad and then the teacher wrote it down for them. My daughter said: I love you dad because I can hug you and kiss you. So sweet. There are plenty of hugs and kisses at our house! Even a few extra on father's day...

Here's my son with the present he made:

The label says ARTwork from ... and inside was a mouse pad featuring a picture he drew of dad at work.

And here's the present my daughter made (using our breakfast table as a backdrop): it's a game that can be played with marbles!

My husband is an amazing dad to our kids. He's become everything I hoped for when I got pregnant with my son (and I had high hopes!) and he's no longer the boy I once married. He's so much more.

Before you have children you don't really know what kind of parent you will end up to be. You learn a lot along the way and of course some days are better than others. We don't have to deal with diapers or bottles anymore, we've heard their first words and saw their first steps. We've been 'mom and dad' for over eight years now and we wouldn't trade a minute of it.

Well, maybe a few tantrums and sleepless nights ;)

Thanks K. for being the wonderful father that you are and for giving me these two beautiful children.

Love,
Tania

A little about me

Since I can now say that I'm 99% painfree (thanks again for all your sweet comments!) I feel up to writing a little more about me.

I've been asked whether or not our home is bilingual and why I blog in English. I've also been asked on more than one occasion where I'm from originally.

I think this may come as a disappointment to some of you, but I'm actually just a Belgian girl, born and raised in the Flemish (= Dutch speaking) part of Belgium, just as my parents and grandparents were.

My maternal language is Flemish (= Dutch with a slight accent :). I learned English, French and German in school. My level of French is not quite up there with my English (too bad, since the other half of Belgium speaks French) and my German... well, lets just say that I remember the basics and that I could probably manage the typical being-on-a-holiday-in-Germany conversations.

I blog in English not only because I prefer the language but also because most of the blogs I read are written in English. And of course it's a better way to make international friends! English is universal so practically anybody who wants to check out my blog will understand it. If I translate my Flemish thoughts correctly that is ;)

Ouch

I had my dentist appointment today and I must say that the extraction went well. It didn't hurt when he pulled it out, but for the rest of the day I did have a painfull jaw. I'm not keen on medication so I didn't take a painkiller and hopefully by tomorrow the pain will have subsided. So please excuse me for not writing a long post, but I think a good night's sleep will do me some good. I plan to go to bed a little earlier than usual.

I added a clock to my blog (somewhere on the right side), so now all my blogging friends will know what time it is in Belgium! I already know what time it is for me: time to get ready for bed :)

Tag your 8

I was tagged by Dani at Give me a second to think about it. So here are my 8 things...

8 things I have a passion for

• My family (with my children sharing first place and my husband a close second)
• Chocolate (I'm picky though, it would probably be easier to list the kinds I like than the kinds I don't)
• Christmas (I put up my tree the last weekend of November)
• Fabric (I have a huge stash and still keep adding to it!)
• Stationary (perfect for sending snail mail - see post below!)
• Crafting supplies (but not enough time to craft)
• Travel (but nog enough money to go places)
• Beautiful photography

8 things I would like to do before I die

• grow old gracefully together with my husband
• watch my children become the amazing adults I know they'll be one day (and who will hopefully give me the pleasure of becoming a grandmother)
• renew my wedding vows (wearing my OWN wedding dress this time)
• win the lottery (just doesn't seem as much fun if this were to happen after I've passed away)
• go to Florida with the kids to see Disney World (hopefully in 2012) and/or spend Christmas in New York
• make a sale on Etsy (so I can spend the money in Disney World or Christmas shopping in New York)
• brush up on my parallel parking (beats looking for a large spot each time)
• leave the world something with my name on it (preferably not only a headstone)

8 things I say a lot

• Ik hou van jou (I love you)
• Wees voorzichtig! (Be carefull!)
• Pas op! (Watch out - mostly to my husband when he's driving / kinda like Mrs. Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances only younger)
• Slaap lekker (Sleep well)
• Wat wil je graag op je boterham? (What would you like on your sandwich? - with the answer being "Hagelslag" most of the time!)
• Hoe was het op school/werk? (How was school/work?)
• ja (yes) / nee (no) /misschien (maybe)
• "Company name, goodmorning!"

8 books I have read most recently (and, unfortunately, have forgotten most of by now)

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• the Da Vinci Code
• Love actually
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Robin Hood (children's book as bedtime story)
• Jip en Janneke (bed time stories)
• although I haven't read any recently I wanted to include the 'Earth Children'-books by Jean Auel
• currently struggling through "Studio Webdesign 3"

8 movies I have seen 8 times

• Greace
• Top Gun
• The Fifth Element
• The Polar Express
• Sleepless in Seattle & You've got Mail
• 4 Weddings and a Funeral
• Ghost & Dirty Dancing
• The Lion King (and most other animation movies)
  not to mention the countless times I've seen Jaws, Superman, Rocky & Rambo (all versions) thanks to my dad when I was younger (also The Terminator, Star Wars and Back to the Future versions, but for those I actually am grateful).

I'm not tagging anyone in particular but if you would like to join in on the fun please leave me a comment so I can check out your 8s!

Snail mail

Every day I (or K.) check the letterbox to see if there's any mail. Mostly there are just bills.

Everyday I check my e-mail to see if there's anything but spam in it. Most of the time there's at least one thing interesting enough to read.

Every day (well, almost) I check my blog to see if there are any comments. Sometimes there are a few and then I feel giddy with excitement to read them (thanks commenters!).

The above all leads to this:

Wouldn't it be fun to actually get something in your letterbox from a bloggy friend? Like a birthday or a christmas card? A little postcard when you're not feeling well (like my friend Dani), or a "Congratulations, it's a boy" card when you've given birth (my friend Elise in a couple of weeks - days perhaps). Does that sound like fun?

Well then, here's my proposal: let's exchange home addresses and send each other some snail mail (even if it's just a yearly christmas card).

If you send me an e-mail with your home address (and preferably date of birth), I'll send you mine.

To Erin:

Your package is ready to go and I'll drop it in the mailbox tomorrow. The first snail mail will be on it's way...

Kiss the pain away

My daughter: "Mom, my thumb hurts."

Me: "Where sweetheart?"

My daughter: "Put your finger on the little red spot. Can you feel it?"

How sweet, she thought that if I'd put my finger on the sore spot that I would feel the pain as well. A little kiss and a bandaid made all aches go away.

I love it that with children you can actually kiss the little pains away.