Chantal's 365

A place to call home! Freebie GO sKrap Happens

2011-01-08T18:29:00.000+01:00

Join sKrap Happens with a friend and get this awesome collab for free!

@ my CDS friends, there's a thread at CDS where people are paring up. Once you are registered at sKrap Happens, all you have to do is post in the "join with a friend" thread and you'll get a coupon code for the kit.

Hope to see you there!!!

Jewel of the Sea

2010-08-07T02:36:00.005+02:00

Jewel of the sea, my latest kit just hit the store.

It's in the shop at digital-scrapbook-kits and will be soon available at a second store (I'm so excited about that! but that's a post for later, LOL.)

and here some QPs that you get for free with purchase of the kit

Still working on my designer blog so I thought I could just post here too!

Thanks.

Candy gifts

2010-03-21T14:54:00.009+01:00

These are the candy gifts we made for L.'s friends. She had a belated birthday party a few weeks ago. I made a card, put it in a plastic folder for every kid with their name on it and they loved it.
L. has her card attached to her schoolbag now. It's really cute!

Credits: Artemia Charity kit (I recolored the hair of the little girl)

These were the candy gifts for A.'s friends on her birthday party in January.

Credits: Vera Lim's kits: It's my day Princess - Woodland fantasy - A child's play

Day 36 - Carnaval

2010-02-05T23:50:00.000+01:00

A. is a Milady of the Middle Ages and L. is a Queen. They were so beautiful and had an amazing time at L. school's carnival ball. They played & danced all evening. I had fun too: I was one of the working parents ! First behind the bar and then at the entrance. End February we do it again... at A.'s school! Yeah!!!

Day 31 - Fu & my new blog

2010-01-31T16:52:00.008+01:00

Ohhhh, I'm so behind with my 365 blog! I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it going in 2010. My January month was really really poor in taking pics, I must admit. I'll try to do better in February.

But I have a nice excuse for not being up-to-date with my 365 blog! I'm trying to design more and of course that takes almost all of my free time. I just put a new kit in the store and I finally made a new blog where I'll post my kits but also my scrap pages. Here's the link if you want to take a look, it's not much so far but it's a start, right!http://www.chunlindesigns.blogspot.com/

Oh, and I'm selling my kits at:

http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/
Here's a little preview from my latest kit : little Hu tiger

Happy 10th Birthday

2010-01-07T19:17:00.001+01:00

Here she is, my oh, so big girl with her favorite birthday present. 10 years old she is today! 10 years ! And when I look at this pic, with her cellphone she looks even older. Although, I can still see that little 13 months old toddler she was when she entered our lives. So cute!

last day of 9

2010-01-06T23:17:00.001+01:00

Well, I miss it! You won't believe me but I really miss Project 365! So I'm thinking maybe ... Give me a few more days...

Here a pic I took today:

My baby's last day of 9 years old! She will be 10 tomorrow!!!

365 days!

2010-01-01T14:54:00.001+01:00

Day 365 - Thursday, December 31

New year's eve! Party with friends!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I made it!!!! I finished Project 365. I honestly didn't think I would but here I am! On the last day of 2009 with my last pic!

DAY 365

2009-12-30T23:50:00.000+01:00

L. doing what she loves the most: playing on the computer! I just love the way she's sitting with her knees showing up like that.

DAY 364

2009-12-29T23:23:00.000+01:00

The girls Christmas stockings.

DAY 363

2009-12-28T22:46:00.000+01:00

Some of our Christmas cards!

DAY 362

2009-12-27T23:43:00.000+01:00

Breakfast wouldn't be much fun without this!

DAY 361

2009-12-26T21:33:00.002+01:00

Christmas dinner with my mom today. The girls got some new pyjama's from Santa (at grandma's house) and wanted me to take a pic of them. This is one of the cutest pics I took!

DAY 360

2009-12-25T16:26:00.000+01:00

Christmas day with my in laws. Totally forgot to take pics. The girls did make funny photos on a computer. Photo boost was the name of the program they used, I think! I'm waiting for the cousins to send me some of the pics. In the meantime, here's one of the presents my MIL gave L.

DAY 356 - 359

2009-12-24T21:25:00.001+01:00

Day 359 - Thursday, December 24

Christmas eve, just the four of us and ... a raclette dinner.

Day 358 - Wednesday, December 23

a little table decoration... for tomorrow

Day 357 - Tuesday, December 22

Oh, man this project has to end soon... no pics again today! I do have a sweet pic of the girls taken a few months ago.

Day 356 - Monday, December 21

! No pics for today (am I getting lazy?). Here another snow pic from this weekend.

DAY 342 - 355

2009-12-20T20:09:00.000+01:00

Day 355 Sunday, December 20

We had snow for a few days now but today we got plenty.

Day 354 Saturday, December 19

A little sunshine in this cold weather!

Day 353 Friday, December 18

Christmas market in our little town. This is a pic of last year because I didn't get to take pics this year but I'm going to get some from a friend later. So I'll come back to change it.

Day 352 Thursday, December 17

Another really, really cold day today.

Day 351 Wednesday, December 16

It's freazing cold outside!!! First day with temps under zero.

Day 350 Tuesday, December 15

Wild and untamed! That's our laptop's new best friend!

Day 349 Monday, December 14

We promised the girls to play a game after dinner today.

Day 348 Sunday, December 13

Sunday cake made by DH. It was delicious as always.

Day 347 Saturday, December 12

Am I happy today. No DS or computer but instead old fashion crafts. Some fabric, a pair of cissors and before you know it, L. has made a beautiful little candy bag with a bow!

Day 346 Friday, December 11

Just a plant for today.

Day 345 Thursday, December 10

Another pic from L. She took from the TV screen, it's the little character in the game "My little BIG planet" on playstation.

Day 344 Wednesday, December 9

L. took this pic a few months ago! I know I'm cheating but Crazy, right?

Day 343 Tuesday, December 8

We love to go to Ikea and try out the beds!

Day 342 Monday, December 7

My girls "My e-pets" collection.

DAY 332 - 341 at the beach

2009-12-06T20:41:00.002+01:00

Day 341 Sunday, December 6

Still at the beach until this afternoon then a quick visit to my in-laws in Brugge and then back home!

Day 340 Saturday, December 5

We went to the beach for the weekend, we stayed with friends. It was a little cold but so relaxing!

Day 339 Friday, December 4

A glimpse of "Sinterklaas" when he entered the school party at L.'s school today! She was so excited about all this. All the different classes performed a little dance and even if I see it myself but L.'s class did an amazing performance! I didn't get great pics, I never do at these events (always to dark and this time they all had red eyes again) but here is one that isn't too bad when changed in B/W:

Day 338 Thursday, December 3

Oops, no pic today! So I thought I'm going to look at my Prague pics again and just post one of those. Well, these little ladies are Maroushka's and they had little stores filled with them in Prague! So cute!

Day 337 Wednesday, December 2

It's kind of hard to watch TV this way! But with 2 little monkeys in the house, it's always lots of fun!

Day 336 Tuesday, December 1

Yeah, today we start with our calendar! 1st note said: " there are no chores today". This is going to be quite fun until the 24Th!

Day 335 Monday, November 30

I started designing a new kit today... this little guy is a hint.

Day 334 Sunday, November 29

I'm not sure you can see it right but this is our advent calendar, in the shape of a Christmas tree. We had so much fun making this and I think it's quite beautiful too. The girls made a little note for every bag and on December 1st we will take the first one out and just do what's on the note. I'm curious what they came up with! We also have 2 other advent calendars, little ones with chocolate inside... hummy!

Day 333 Saturday, November 28

I'm glad my two little monkeys are careful when they do this!

Day 332 Friday, November 27

L. reaching for some toy in the closet. Thought this was a fun shot!

DAY 328 - 331

2009-11-26T16:31:00.009+01:00

Day 331 Thursday, November 26

She went to school for the first time this week! She was sooo happy this morning and came home even more happy after school. She had a wonderful day and forgot all about being sick.

Oh, I have a second pic for today! Don't be scared!!! Isn't she fun?

Day 330 Wednesday, November 25

Don't you hate it when you are borred? What to do? What to do?

Day 329 Tuesday, November 24

My favorite cup for my coffie! Not really sure if I already used this as a pic of the day!

Day 328 Monday, November 23

New week and new flour supply for our daily bread!

DAY 326 - 327

2009-11-22T19:50:00.005+01:00

Day 327 Sunday, November 22

One of Anne Geddes wonderful photo turned into a puzzle. 111 pieces and most of them are eggs. Such a difficult puzzle, L. gave up after a while although she's amazing with puzzles. It took A. and myself almost an hour to finish it but it was a lot of fun!

Day 326 Saturday, November 21

A. and I were cleaning up the garden a little, and look what we discovered: cute little mushrooms in our grass.

DAY 323 - 325

2009-11-20T21:34:00.005+01:00

Day 325 Friday, November 20

This is the birthday card my MIL got from us this week. I made this online in less then 10 minutes, at the Hallmark site, ordered and shipped one card to my MIL and a copy to myself. It arrived today and I LOVE IT! The quality of the paper and the colors of the pics are amazing! I think I'll make all my Birthday cards this way from now on! It's so easy, no printing at home and no running to the post office ... oh, and the shipping was free. So I just payed the cards! Super great deal!

Day 324 Thursday, November 19

I ordered Chinese today and when I went to get it, they gave me a wonderful Chinese calendar. It's going to be the Year of the Tiger in 2010!

Day 323 Wednesday, November 18

It's hard to see but this is L. searching for some toy in the closet. I thought it was quite funny, She almost disappeared in it!

DAY 320 - 322

2009-11-17T22:02:00.007+01:00

Day 322 Tuesday, November 17

FOREVER ZEN that's what is written on A.'s glasses! Isn't that cool? Love the fact that she can change her look with these clips. I want her to have more but they are quite expensive - 30 Euro ($44.63) for the clip only - so she'll have to wait for a special occasion like her birthday in January.

Day 321 Monday, November 16

Recycling stuff: plastic bottles, glass, paper, cardboard etc... and that's from one day only! Pfff!!!

Day 320 Sunday, November 15

This is a necklace I got in Prague, it's made with Bohemian glass. The girls got one too: L. choose a little heart and A. a little moon.

DAY 313 - 319

2009-11-14T23:37:00.002+01:00

Day 319 Saturday, November 14

A. has to wear glasses again. Her old ones were to small so here she is with a brand new pair of stylish black glasses where she can clip some other colors on. Here she has a blue clip on it, she also has a transparent one with silver words on it. She also loved a green clip but she'll have to wait for that one until her birthday in January. Isn't she cute? I just love her smile here!

Day 318 Friday, November 13

No pic for today! I had a really busy day and came home really late from my first self-defense lesson. It's been ages since I did any kind of sports but tonight I learned some defense techniques and I had a lot of fun after been exhausted by the warming up they made us do. Today our teacher was a police man, next Friday it will be my DH who's going to teach us how to defend our self. I signed up for 10 lesson. Oh, and ... I was the only woman on the tatami tonight! Hope there will be more of us next time.

Day 317 Thursday, November 12

Just a cute pic of Fu sitting on the porch

Day 316 Wednesday, November 11

No school today! 2 best friends having fun eating candy and watching nickelodeon. A. was at a friend's house so L. had her friend over to play with.

Day 315 Tuesday, November 10

My first LO about our trip to Prague. Many others will follow.... I hope!

Day 314 Monday, November 9

When I picked up A. after school, she told me she hurt herself jumping on the trampoline. She sprained her thumb and her hand was really swollen. Poor baby, she was hurt and nobody noticed... we filled in some forms and I called our family doctor. He send us to the ER. We only had to wait half an hour and were on our way to radiology. Yeah, nothing broken! She got some salve to put on her hand and I was allowed to give her some ibuprofen. Slight problem for tomorrow: it's her left hand and she's a lefty.

Day 313 Sunday, November 8

L. wearing daddy's hat. Isn't she the cutest?

DAY 312 - Digital Scrapbooking Day

2009-11-07T19:47:00.003+01:00

It's DSD (Digital Scrapbooking Day) today and I'm having a sale at digital-scrapbook-kits.com !!!
So here's my pic of the day, the cover of L's album,

with "the pink album - Spring Blossom" QPs:

DAY 309 - 311

2009-11-06T19:21:00.009+01:00

Day 311 Friday, November 6

Drinkin' some chocolate milk while watching her favorite show.

Day 310 Thursday, November 5

Some Chinese sugar we have. I just used it to sweeten a mint tea I made for A. and me.

Day 309 Wednesday, November 4

Our little Buddha is watching over us as we are making dinner in our kitchen. He came back with us on our last trip to China or was it the first one?

Oh, Bentonflocke (what's your first name, BTW?) we stayed in Obertshausen, not far from Frankfurt! Thanks for all your nice comments!!!!

Day 304 - 308 Prague

2009-11-03T23:14:00.002+01:00

Day 308 Tuesday, November 3

The girls waiting in the lobby. It's back home today and DH was at the reception paying the bill. We left Prague at 10.30 am and got home tonight at 7.45 pm. It was a great trip home. It's hard to believe but we had no traffic jam at all. Rain and lots of cars but we got home all in one piece!

Day 307 Monday, November 2

Second day of sight-seeing... it's raining so I didn't take many pics today, sigh! I did manage to get this one. Aren't these buildings wonderful. Oh, and here one of the girls!

Day 306 Sunday, November 1

The ROOFS of Prague. I took quite some pics of the beautiful roofs you see in Prague. For this one I was standing on Charles Bridge!

Day 305 Saturday, October 31

We are in Prague!!!!! And this is part of our room at the "Esplanade" hotel where we'll stay for 3 nights!

Day 304 Friday, October 30

On our way to Prague! We stopped for the night in a little German town and stayed at a B&B hotel for one night. We had supper in a Chinese restaurant and the girls took all kind of pics. This is one of them!

DAY 302 - 303

2009-10-29T22:10:00.002+01:00

Day 303 Thursday, October 29

The girls helping with their suitcase. We are leaving tomorrow afternoon for ... Prague! A 5 days vacation! It has been way too long since we went on a trip so we are all very excited about this. We are going by car, it's only 859 km and we are staying in Germany for our first night. We will arrive in Prague on Saturday and will stay there until Tuesday. Ohhh, I can't wait... hope to get wonderful pics over there: I packed a fully charged camera with a 8GB memory card!!!!!

Day 302 Wednesday, October 28

Just a nice lamp in a park nearby.

DAY 298 - 301

2009-10-27T23:16:00.007+01:00

Day 301 Tuesday, October 27

No pics for today so just a little collage I made ages ago!

Day 300 Monday, October 26

Flowers and a poem from L. All just for me!

Day 299 Sunday, October 25

I bought this little wooden moon and her stars (4 of them) at a wonderful little shop near the Rialto Bridge in Venice in 2000, my last business trip before children entered our lives. We were waiting for A. at the time.

Day 298 Saturday, October 24

A.'s first little horse, a present from my best friend. It was waiting for her to come home back in 2001!

DAY 293 - 297

2009-10-23T22:17:00.006+02:00

Day 297 Friday, October 23

I cooked Chinese tonight... made me the "BEST mom ever"

Even better now that they were allowed to eat in front of the TV watching one of their favorite shows: Huis Anubis.

Day 296 Thursday, October 22

I took almost all my pics without flash this week. I just love the warm color my pics get, even if they aren't as crisp as I would love them to be. O.K. about my pic of the day: this bear was made for A. by my husband's grandmother. Isn't he cute? I wished she was still among us so she could have made one for L. too but they never met. She passed away before we could visit with L.

Day 295 Wednesday, October 21

These 2 beautiful guitars are my new wall decoration in my bedroom. No!!! I'm not playing guitar, I wish I could but DH is the one playing in our home... and A. is learning.

Day 294 Tuesday, October 20

So happy I took a subscription to these wonderful Chinese National Geography (CNG) issues. The stories and the photos are just amazing. I'm discovering China's wonders every day at noon: this is my new best friend when I'm having my lunch.

Day 293 Monday, October 19

This is one of two little rabbits my girls got from Santa when they were little. Their purpose was to be attached on the seat belt of the car seat so the girls could put their heads on the soft bellies if they wanted to sleep in the car. Today they don't use them anymore but we find a wonderful new place for them. This is the bed my FIL was born in and we recently moved it to our home, restored it and now we have a guest room if needed with 2 funny rabbits watching over our guest. I think it's sweet.

DAY 291 - 292

2009-10-18T20:44:00.003+02:00

Day 292 Sunday, October 18

We went to a wonderful playground today. It's all NEW and only a 5 minute drive from home! The girls had a blast although A. had a nasty fall but she's O.K. She hurt her ankle a little but a wonderful woman came over to us with some special gel (for bruises) she carried in her purse. She told me she was the grandmother of 2 little boys and always had first aid stuff in her purse. I'll say she's a wise woman.

Day 291 Saturday, October 17

We had a wonderful day with L.'s China sisters today. We come together every 2-3 months : 3 families with 5 kids total. We all became good friends and enjoy each other's company a lot. I wish we had this kind of relationship with A.'s China sisters too but we almost never see them.
Anyway we had a great day at one of the other family's home and had a great and yummy dinner and lots of laughs. Next time it's at our place... will need to check my cook books!

DAY 286 - 290

2009-10-16T20:58:00.012+02:00

Day 290 Friday, October 16

These are flowers L. made today with some paper napkins. Aren't they beautiful? I love them.

Our dishwasher broke about 2 weeks ago. We have been doing dishes every day since and man it's amazing how much precious family time we loose by it (especially on school days) . So we decided to get a new dishwasher and it arrived today! This is a pic of my last dishes washed by hand. I know we are spoiled but I have THE best excuse ever: I'm a full time working wife, mom of two and owner of a BIG dog with lots of hair!!!!!

Day 289 Thursday, October 15

Fu in one of his zen & peaceful moments.

Day 288 Wednesday, October 14

L. eating one of her favorite dishes: shrimps in cocktail sauce with tomatoes and this time with pasta and cucumber. Notice the baby plate ? It's Winnie the Pooh and the last one I have left from when the girls were babies, sigh.

Day 287 Tuesday, October 13

... and another Asian touch in our living room.

Day 286 Monday, October 12

An ancient Chinese coin on a wonderful old paper background - in a little black frame. This is one of the few Chinese decorations we have in our home.

DAY 285 - UP

2009-10-11T23:27:00.000+02:00

We went to see this movie today... in 3D: it was STUNNING! Such a beautiful, funny and AMAZING movie. We all LOVED IT!!!

DAY 283 - 284

2009-10-10T20:09:00.006+02:00

Day 284 Saturday, October 10

L. eating some yellow kiwi, a fruit she never eats ... but today ... she even ate TWO! I'm not going to ask her why. I'm just happy she asked for them and enjoyed eating them. I think it's all about the special kiwi spoon we have. That's a pic for another day! Ohhh, I almost forgot, I played some more with lightroom... still 14 days to go and then my trial version ends.

Day 283 Friday, October 9

I just picked up L. from school. She's all smiles today, she's soooo happy! She's telling me about the new swimming hat she got today. It's a yellow one! It means she's one level up with her swimming: she's in heaven! Way to go, my sweet little big girl!!!

DAY 281 - 282

2009-10-08T23:43:00.005+02:00

Day 282 Thursday, October 8

A. trying to teach Fu some tricks. She had such a blast and he indulged her just so he could get some of the yummy stuff she's holding!

Day 281 Wednesday, October 7

I forgot to take a pic today! SO it will have to be my latest LO again, "Being with you". I made this one with Vera Lim's wonderful kit Simple pleasures

DAY 280 - silly

2009-10-06T23:53:00.000+02:00

L. makes me laugh everytime I see her with these, LOL.

DAY 279 - Fu is 3!

2009-10-05T23:01:00.003+02:00

Happy birthday Fu!!!!! He's 3 years old today and the girls wanted to buy him the biggest bone we could find. Well, I think he's going to enjoy this one for a loooooong time!

DAY 278 - L.&Dell

2009-10-04T15:39:00.003+02:00

L. loves computers... and I love the light of the little screen on her face! Isn't it cute how she installed herself so she can play without being bothered by mom when it's time to set the table for dinner? She isn't allowed to take it in the couch yet. The kiddo is too small and the Dell too expensive for that, LOL.

DAY 275 - 277

2009-10-03T23:48:00.003+02:00

Day 277 Saturday, October 3

After L.'s gymnastic hour this morning I went with some other moms to L.'s school today to give the gates and the playground some new flashy colors. The gates will need a second round of paint but for the rest we did finish by 3:00 pm. At 5:00 pm A. had her karate lesson and at 6:30 we picked up L.'s friend and went to the Rollerblades festivities where the girls got a medal for participating in a contest. (A. was feeling sick that day so no medal for her. Poor baby but she's a good sport, she cheered for her sister) Marc joined us later on (he had a Judo demonstration in a nearby town) and we all enjoyed watching the kids on their roller-blades and had a meat/cheese/wine supper with yummy cake to end the evening. What a busy, busy Saturday, pfffff.

Day 276 Friday, October 2

We ate Belgian fries today! No time to make dinner or supper today: so we went for shhht... junk food! I'm a bad girl, I'm sheating: this isn't a pic I took, I found it on the internet but who cares, right!

Day 275 Thursday, October 1

Not my best photo but that's all I have for today. So, this is a little wooden horse DH made when we were waiting parents back in 2000.

DAY 273 - 274 21 years...

2009-09-30T21:17:00.001+02:00

Day 274 Wednesday, September 30

It's our wedding anniversary today! 21 years ago today we said yes to each other officially (we were already a couple for 6 years). We said yes to continue to build a great life together, yes to have kids together (and we have the 2 most wonderful and beautiful daughters on the planet), yes to grow old together (and we are slowly but definitely on our way to that last one, LOL). Hope we will be happy together for many, many more years!

Day 273 Tuesday, September 29

I took this pic from my TV screen! Isn't it gorgeous? I just love these little pinguins from Madagascar and I soooo love to hear A.'s laughter when she watches them.

DAY 271 - 272

2009-09-28T22:51:00.001+02:00

Day 272 Monday, September 28

Our neighbours have this giant chestnut tree in their backyard and today they brought us a bag full of chestnuts. I roasted some. Man, are these yummy!!! Fall definitely arrived!

Day 271 Sunday, September 27

I'm playing with Lightroom - LOVE IT! Still 24 days to go and then my trial version expires. Am I going to buy it or not? Love what it can do with my pics but it's a lot of $$... need to think about it and play some more... Wouldn't this be a super great Christmas present... I could definitely wait until Christmas!!!

DAY 270 - Ouch

2009-09-26T23:44:00.001+02:00

Fu had a little accident on his walk home yesterday. He got stuck somewhere with his leg and his nail (from his thumb)was almost broken in two. Nothing major but I couldn't help him. The break was to close to where his nail begins and I could see the flesh under it. I didn't feel comfortable doing it myself so we went to the vet today. Fu doesn't like the vet. How big of a dog he is, how scared and little he feels at the vet. Funny to see! Poor Fu you'll say... but now that it's over he's showing of his bandage. And he doesn't try to get it off! What a cool dog. I love him!!!

DAY 268 - 269

2009-09-25T22:47:00.006+02:00

Day 269 Friday, September 25

We went to town after school and had some fun!

Day 268 Thursday, September 24

When I went to pick up L. at school today (at 5.20 pm), poor baby was the only kid still at school! SIGH!!! But she didn't mind, she had a great time searching for walnuts in the garden behind the school.

DAY 267

2009-09-23T23:45:00.001+02:00

I'm not really great with plants. I always forget to give them water ... This little one is new! Marc bought it on Saturday along with another one, a ficus benjamina. Typical plants we used to buy in the Eighties, not exactly what I would buy now but I'll do my best and love it, although I'm sure I'm going to mess it up again and let the poor thing die of thirst.

DAY 252 - 266

2009-09-22T23:38:00.003+02:00

Day 266 Tuesday, September 22

That's TODAY!!! I made it one more time... it's getting harder to keep up with this project but I made myself a promise today: I'm going to post every day, or at least every few days. No way I'm going to be able to ketch up next time I'm MIA for so long.

O.K., here's my pic for today

Just beautiful L. posing for mom's pic of the day!

Day 265 Monday, September 21

This is what A. played tonight after home work. She just loves this game. It's called Little Big Planet (from PlayStation) and it's so much fun. What's really cool is that every time she's starts to play, new updates are downloaded automatically and new features are added. It changes all the time.

Day 264 Sunday, September 20

We visited the Castle of Loppem, near Brugge today. My MIL and L. were resting a little while A. was taking pics. Here's a pic from "an angel with a waffle iron" (A.'s words!)

Day 263 Saturday, September 19

The girls playing with their latest purchase : they put their money together so they could buy this horse barn from Playmobil.

Day 262 Friday, September 18

This is my attempt of slowing down time.

Day 261 Thursday, September 17

It's fruit day at A.'s school today. Kids have to bring at least one piece of fruit to school every Thursday. They receive a second fruit (mostly an apple) from school. My kids take fruit every day to school but many kids don't. This is a project in all schools, it started last year. I think it's a great initiative. L. has her fruit day on Wednesday.

Day 260 Wednesday, September 16

Of course, we don't always drink from the bottle! It's just that ... A doesn't always have time to take a glass!

Day 259 Tuesday, September 15

It' getting harder and harder to take a pic every day. No pic today but I thought why not post my latest LO? I made this one with Vera Lim's Texture it! No 4 and her kit "Life's an adventure".

Day 258 Monday, September 14

The girls marching like soldiers with their umbrellas. It was so funny!

Day 257 Sunday, September 13

A. trying out her new Karate kimono she got yesterday. She LOVES karate! Would love to go practice twice a week but it's way too late on Tuesday nights so she'll have to settle with Saturdays only. She did Judo for almost a year (like daddy) but got hurt a few times and gave up. Now, she's totally into karate! She can't wait to get her next belt!

Day 256 Saturday, September 12

After shopping, we went to a MacDonald. A took this pic at the play area. It was dark and it was taken with a little point&shoot camera. But don't you love the way L. is posing for the camera?

Day 255 Friday, September 11

It's my mom's birthday today but we are seeing each other on Sunday. So no pics today! This pic was taken on Saturday: we went clothes shopping.

Day 254 Thursday, September 10

This smile means so much to me. A has been so sad and down lately that seeing her smile warms my heart. She has more and more happy moments again and that is all I want for her: Happy moments!

Day 253 Wednesday, September 9

I so love her happy moments!

Day 252 Tuesday, September 8

6 years ago today, I hold L. for the first time in my arms. Such a wonderful feeling! Every year we celebrate this day and do something special. This year L. choose an Italian restaurant and the Bowling alley to finish the evening... we had so much fun! We are so blessed to have this little girl in our lives.

DAY 251 - Tintin

2009-09-07T23:55:00.001+02:00

Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock and the Professor. Do you know these characters? From Hergé, a Belgium cartoonist known all around the world for the wonderful comic books he created (The adventures of Tintin...). Well, we have this little miniature jeep in our kitchen. I think it's cute!

DAY 248 - 250

2009-09-06T22:16:00.003+02:00

Day 250 Sunday, September 6

My sister came over today. We didn't see each other for months. This is her little boy, isn't he gorgeous? I just love his eyes!!!

Day 249 Saturday, September 5

"Mom, please stop! How many pics did you take? 100!!!!. this is my last smile! I mean it"

Day 248 Friday, September 4

A few minutes before bedtime I remembered I didn't have a pic for today. L was more then happy to be my subject! It's so great to see her smile like this. Especially after a not so great evening. The girls had their first rollerblading training of the new season. L was going to get new roller-blades (the competition model like the big kids) but no, no can do! Her feet are still to small, all the blades she tried on were way to big. I promised her she will get better & faster ones but not the competition ones yet. She gave me big tears! It was really hard on her, also because big sister did get hers. But she survived and now I need to keep my promise... by next Friday. How could I not keep it after she gave me this big smile?

DAY 247 - Schoolbooks

2009-09-03T23:15:00.001+02:00

These are A.'s new school calendar, notebooks and schoolbooks. She made the LO herself with the kit "A child's play" from Vera Lim. Isn't this gorgeous? This took me all evening , these books are all plastified, pfff!

DAY 246 - Pistachio

2009-09-02T23:26:00.000+02:00

Yummmm! Such a great after school little snack : Pistachio nuts!

DAY 245 - School!

2009-09-01T22:46:00.003+02:00

Yeah! school started today! And we were READY but a little nervous too. A. is going to 4Th grade... in a new school. She's happy about it (changing schools is her choice) but also scared. New environment, new people, new friends, new learning methods... so much to deal with. But it went well. She did fine and had fun, made some new friends already, likes her teacher and is happy she's going back tomorrow.

L. had a great day too. My little peanut is in SECOND grade!!! She loves her new teacher (the one A. had last year - a really really nice person), was thrilled to see her best friends again but ... they told me she had a bit of a hard time at recess and lunch time because she misses her sister. She'll do fine but it's such a big adjustment for her to be by herself at school now.

I just remembered I have some documents to fill for the girls to take to school tomorrow. I better do it right away otherwise L. is going to give me the evil eye in the morning!

DAY 244 - Crochet

2009-08-31T22:35:00.000+02:00

With a little love and some concentration we can accomplish beautiful things!

DAY 243 - Chinese food

2009-08-30T20:58:00.007+02:00

Just a lovely photo! We ate Chinese food today. One of A.'s favorites!

DAY 242 - toothless smile

2009-08-29T23:26:00.002+02:00

She loves to show her toothless smile! And I love her for it!

day 241 - Bento box

2009-08-28T23:15:00.001+02:00

This is ridiculous! On the left, L.'s lunch box from Diddl and next to it: A.'s BENTO BOX!!! Look how small that box is. How on earth am I supposed to put her lunch in there? She waited so patiently, was so excited I ordered a Bento box just for her, like the ones she saw on TV, all the way from France, first order was lost in the mail, had to wait some more, was promised a little extra present, all was fine and then... we got this ridiculous extra small little box! A. was so disappointed. She doesn't want to use it! Man, did I miss something here? I know these are Japanese boxes and I know they are more used for rice and sushi and all those Japanese yummy looking rolls and such but ... I really thought they were bigger so we could put some bread, vegetables and fruit in there... man, was I wrong... now, we need to go buy another box for A. Pfff, not always easy...

DAY 232 - 240

2009-08-27T21:43:00.016+02:00

Day 240 Thursday, August 27

DH put this on L.'s head at table tonight and she didn't take it off. She was playing on the computer and I just loved the way she looked at the screen, so focused and so funny. I tried to take a pic but it was way to dark. So I called her and this is the smile she gave me when she turned to look at me. I so love her!

Day 239 Wednesday, August 26

L. is getting really fast in "crochet" - I have no clue how you say this in English though!

Day 238 Tuesday, August 25

Forgot to take a pic today. So I'm cheating a little here but who cares, right! Look at this wonderful photo of A.

Day 237 Monday, August 24

Look at that smile! Finally number 4 has fallen. I just love her toothless smile!

Day 236 Sunday, August 23

Really beautiful weather today so we took the girls to swim in a lake about an hour drive from home. The water was COLD but L. did it, she went in! This is her victory pose!

Day 235 Saturday, August 22

The biggest church we have in our town.

Day 234 Friday, August 21

What you can't see is that my DH is on the other side making waves. A loves it!

Day 233 Thursday, August 20

Why is it so coooold!

Day 232 Wednesday, August 19

Love the sun on her face.

DAY 228 - 231

2009-08-18T21:10:00.012+02:00

Day 231 Tuesday, August 18

Singing along with one of their favorite shows! They were so funny! I should have filmed it instead of taking pics! They just came out of the pool and their adrenaline was still pumping crazy I guess, they were still so laud and excited. I could here it in the way they were singing! Man, this vacation really did it, my girls are having so much fun together! I'm in heaven!

Day 230 Monday, August 17

3 days ago I thought her second front tooth would fall out ... but no! Not with this child! Her baby teeth really don't want to leave and she's so afraid to even touch them, no way she's going to pull them out herself! This child is such a mystery to me sometimes. She has no fear of needles, she is always so brave when she's really sick and in pain but when she sees a little scratch on her body, all hell breaks loose! Same with her teeth! It's quite an adventure every time! And she only lost 3 so far...

Day 229 Sunday, August 16

We went to Plopsa Coo (an amusement park) today and it was hot, hot, hot!!! These water fountains were so refreshing.

Day 228 Saturday, August 15

My girls painting with Chinese brushes on real Chinese paper! L. is writing her Chinese name. She did an amazing job! And A. did great too but got tired of it and wanted to ... just paint something on regular paper!

DAY 223 - 227

2009-08-14T21:11:00.002+02:00

Day 227 Friday, August 14

Toothless! This is only her 3rd tooth she's lost and she's already 7,5. Number 4 is very loose too so I hope to have a new pic by tomorrow with her 2 front teeth missing! It's about time she looses them because she's had pressure and even pain for a year now. Her good teeth are soooo ready to come out and are pushing but the little baby teeth don't want to leave.

Day 226 Thursday, August 13

New haircut for A. and me! Mine isn't quite what I wanted, DH and the girls even laughed when I got home from the hairdresser (not funny!) but I just love A.'s new hairdo (only... she looks even more grown up now!).

Day 225 Wednesday, August 12

We had some friends over today but I want it to be a secret just a few days longer ... so just a pic of beautiful L.

Day 224 Tuesday, August 11

The girls made a list of some DS games they really want!

Day 223 Monday, August 10

Yeah, so much fun on the new Dell!

DAY 222

2009-08-09T23:34:00.001+02:00

My girls build a camp in our garden. And I brought them some yummy things to eat in their improvised new home: melon, berries, cookies, chocolate, strawberry drink yogurt for L. and water for A. They loved it! And asked for more melon!

DAY 221 - Osso Bucco

2009-08-08T23:07:00.001+02:00

My husband in the kitchen. He made us some turkey osso bucco with tomatoes, olives, zucchini and pasta for dinner tonight. It tasted like Heaven! I wish he had more time to be in the kitchen, he's such a great cook! I forgot to take a pic of the finished dish... you'll have to use your imagination, sorry!

Day 210 - 220

2009-08-07T22:03:00.015+02:00

Day 220 Friday, August 7

I made it!!!!! Pffff, this took me a big part of my evening to put this post together and ... guess what? ... I forgot to take a pic for today, LOL. So you get to see my beautiful daughters... out of focus... again!

Day 219 Thursday, August 6

Look at my candle! Yesterday we stayed outdoors late and I forgot to take my candle back inside. Today was the hottest day of our Belgian Summer and my candle just MELT! LOL!!!

Day 218 Wednesday, August 5

We had friends over after work and the kids were having so much fun playing around with water. They were soaking wet! L. was so into it! She was the smallest but man she got them all! No dry spot on any one of them to be found! Fun, fun, fun!

Day 217 Tuesday, August 4

L. showing off some clothes she got from big sis! The pants are still to large but she loves this outfit!

Day 216 Monday, August 3

On my way to work after 3 weeks at home! Goodbye vacation, good morning routine...

I work in a little town which is famous for its beer. On this roundabout, you can see a copper beer kettle. I thought it's quite special. Oh, and I took this pic while drivin'. Great, right!

Day 215 Sunday, August 2

We had a little fun today, my girls were models having a photoshoot!

Day 214 Saturday, August 1

Ho, I think there is a curse on us! Our hard disk crashed 6 months ago on our laptop. We bought a new desktop in December and a few days ago, Internet explorer died! Along with other stuff . A friend came to look at it but had no clue how to repair it and asked for a few days to come up with a plan. There was no way I was going to stay without my beloved CDS so I tried to surf on our old laptop and it worked but then... yesterday DH saw a great deal for a Dell Inspiron and ... well, here it is, on my desk and I already installed PSE5 and got my google bookmarks up with CDS on the first place! Just love it that we have a portable again!

Day 213 Friday, July 31

This was taken at the beach last Monday. I love her smile! I didn't have a pic for today.

Day 212 Thursday, July 30

DH ate about 500 gr of these barbecued jumbo prawns at dinner tonight. These 4 are all there is left! And he is the only one here that eats them.

Day 211 Wednesday, July 29

These are a few of my girls old clothes we are giving away to a charity tomorrow. These will help some less fortunate kids here in Belgium. I hope they like them.

Day 210 Tuesday, July 28

Another flower from our garden

DAY 208 - 209

2009-07-27T23:49:00.002+02:00

Day 209 Monday, July 27

We went to the beach today and got ... rain! So to have something fun to do indoors(most of the time) we went to a Sealife centre for a couple of hours before joining some friends who were on vacation there and have dinner together.

Day 208 Sunday, July 26

Fu loves it when L. just comes out the pool, all wet and really cold! Must be quite refreshing for him, he gets so warm with all his fur.

DAY 205-207

2009-07-25T16:30:00.022+02:00

Day 207 Saturday, July 25

I got the coolest gift from Marc and the girls. A design tablet (like a Wacom bamboo tablet but mine is from Trust)! This is such an incredible tool. I LOVE IT!!! Look at one of my first drawings in Photoshop... and I'm far from being an artist! ... I have so much to learn... this is so much fun!

Day 206 Friday, July 24

Some more flowers! Got these from DH.

Day 205 Thursday, July 23

My Birthday today! And this is one of my birthday presents, got it from my sister in law. Isn't this cute? We didn't do anything special except go to a restaurant with my SIL (who had her birthday last week) and her DH. Dinner was simply heaven!

DAY 203 - 204

2009-07-22T23:58:00.006+02:00

Day 204 Wednesday, July 22

OK! The story behind this one is tooo funny! Every day we have 2 Ice cream trucks passing by our house. "Popeye" which we really don't like (the ice cream isn't that good and the man isn't that nice) and then there is "DingDong" who we really really like. So today we heard the music and were waiting in front of our house. The girls always get really excited when the music gets louder and the truck is almost visible. We can see it at about 60 meters from our home, there is a curve so before that not a clue which one is coming! Forgot to say: they both have the same music (it's a real war between those 2). So today, I asked the girls what do we do if it's Popeye? We jump back inside? We run away? What??? L. stayed very cool and said: I'm hiding! And look how! Isn't this hilarious! It definitely got "the photo of the day" price in my eyes!

Day 203 Tuesday, July 21

The water in the pool is still real cold so the girls were first making their hair wet. Don't ask! I don't have a clue why that would help. Seems to me it would make me feel colder but pfff... these are kids, right! Anyway, it gave me some great shots!

DAY 199 - 202

2009-07-20T23:17:00.001+02:00

Day 202 Monday, July 20

I just love this pic! They are not really asleep, they are faking it but isn't it beautiful? A few days ago, I made a LO with almost the same pic (only DH & A.) but that one wasn't staged at all. A. actually fell asleep on her daddy's chest. I LOVE that pic!
Today, I was on the computer (where else!?) when DH yelled "Now, you should take a pic of us!"...
I'm going to make a LO with this one for sure!!!!! and here's the one I'm talking about:

Your dad ~ Credits: Chunlin designs - Your ba ba forever

Day 201 Sunday, July 19

These are some kind of black berries, well we'll need some more patience but wow, are these going to be yummy once they have the right color! And we have soooo many of them on this little bush. Can't wait...

Day 200 Saturday, July 18

Discovering PlayStation and "the little BIG planet" - looks like a very fun game! We also have BUZZ! Man, that's an addicting game! We played all 4 of us and it was soooo much fun!!!

Day 199 Friday, July 17

some flowers in our backyard.

Day 198

2009-07-16T23:05:00.001+02:00

The girls having lunch in our backyard! Pasta salad and French bread - Yumm... Fu just want a little taste of it...

will he get some?

DAY 197

2009-07-15T21:19:00.004+02:00

Look at her! She finally can swim above water! YEAH!!!!!! Just love her expression here! She's really trying to get to the other side without taking a break on the way! Our pool is only 4 and a half meters long but for her it was very far... and she made it! After that, she couldn't be stopped anymore, she kept swimming until she was completely exhausted! Yes, that's my girl!

DAY 194 - 196

2009-07-14T21:20:00.005+02:00

Day 196 Tuesday, July 14

Not a happy day for L. Her 2 best friends are gone on vacation and on top of that, her sister had a friend come over to play. Last Saturday, she was at a birthday party and A. was alone at home, next month she goes to the beach for 3 days with her best friend and A. will be alone again. But she doesn't seem to care about that. She only knows about today, that her sister is having fun and she's NOT! After she gave us a pouty face for 2 hours, she started to play with the girls and eventually had fun too.

Day 195 Monday, July 13

As soon as Fu sees the camera, he moves! He was sitting in the grass and just looked beautiful. I wanted to take a shot of that moment but wasn't fast enough. He saw me, and like always stood up and came to meet the camera. And this is the result: Fu in motion!

Day 194 Sunday, July 12

Having fun on the swing.

DAY 191 - 193

2009-07-11T22:44:00.001+02:00

Day 193 Saturday, July 11

We had some fun at a photo-matic-taking-pictures-kind of machine (don't know how you call them!). This is a scanned photo. And even if it's of very poor quality, we love it! A. is going to hang it on her wall next to her bed. Isn't that sweet?

Day 192 Friday, July 10

NO! We will NOT laugh... the girls posing with A.'s new shades. They crack me up! They were both so serious at first when I started to take pics but then ... they gave me the beautifulest smile ever.

Day 191 Thursday, July 9

Fly Baby Fly!

DAY 190

2009-07-08T23:23:00.003+02:00

They look quite serious, don't they?! And they are! Because playing Winx games on one of their favorite sites is SERIOUS. But it's a lot of fun too! Ho, AND they are stealing my computer time....sigh! It was past nine tonight before I could have it back.

DAY 181 - 189

2009-07-07T22:57:00.019+02:00

Day 189 Tuesday, July 7

Fu having some fun nibbling on a wood branch.

Day 188 Monday, July 6

You can't have enough remote controls when watching your favorite show!

Day 187 Sunday, July 5

No pics today! We had a great BBQ at a friends house and had a great time. But I didn't take my camera with me. Our friends took lots of pics so I hope to get one I will put here later.

Day 186 Saturday, July 4

Just love that smile!

Day 185 Friday, July 3

L. having fun with her new dolphin.

Day 184, Thursday July 2

Brrrrr.... cold!

Day 183, Wednesday July 1st

Fu taking a walk in the fields

Day 182, Tuesday June 30

A. eating some cotton candy we brought back from a "kermis", a fair.

Day 181, Monday June 29

DAY 176 - 180

2009-06-28T23:37:00.001+02:00

Day 180 - Sunday, June 28

Noooo! She isn't afraid of some big monster she just saw. Nooo, she just realised I was taking pics of her... We had a big party at school today. I took like a zillion pics through the day, some really cute ones from the kids performances but this one, well this one gives me the giggles every time I look at it. L. just cracks me up! Look at the next shot! Love it!

Day 179 - Saturday, June 27

Oh, I so wished I had my macro lens to take this pic! Isn't it beautiful! About the macro lens: I'm getting one for my birthday... next month! YIPPIE!!! DH just told me to go get it today (a month early!)... but I didn't have time, too much to do. I hope to make it to the store by next Saturday! I'll let you know!

Day 178 - Friday, June 26

We just love to eat these little tomatoes. Don't they look YUMMY!

Day 177 - Thursday, June 25

Fresh from our garden!

Day 176 - Wednesday, June 24

This is a little present A. brought me from her field trip yesterday. She didn't find a little Fu so instead she got met this little fellow. I think he's cute!

DAY 174 - 175

2009-06-23T23:04:00.000+02:00

Day 175 - Tuesday June 23

We went for a walk after supper. I took some pics in the fields and I just love this one! It looks like L. is looking at a lavender field, with the purple and all. You can't really see what it is because the background is all blurry but I love the touch of purple. Well, we of course don't have lavender fields over here... it's just an ordinary field of potatoes.

Day 174 - Monday June 22

This is L. shopping in her favorite store- toys and toys and everywhere you look: toys! A little gift for her teacher, a new lunchbox for next year and a new little Petshop friend, just because she wants it. Oh, wait! Didn't we come here because we needed a present for a birthday party next Wednesday? But, Mom wait!!!! There are so many Petshops! I want this one but I like that one, oh, and look at that other one! I love them all! How many can I take home, Mom?

DAY 173

2009-06-21T21:30:00.003+02:00

1 2 3 ... Go! Who's going to win? A. and DH having some fun. They are both so brave... the water is still so cold out here. L. is brave too! She also went in the water ... for a few minutes!

DAY 172

2009-06-20T23:24:00.001+02:00

This caramel pudding is really, I mean, REALLY slippery!!!! L. was laughing and it wasn't easy but she made it to the table and ... really enjoyed her dessert on her own painted plate.

DAY 170 - 171

2009-06-19T23:35:00.001+02:00

Day 171 Friday, June 19

I was making myself some mint tea (like they drink in Morocco) - lots of fresh mint & sugar (I know not good but oh, so yummy - tastes like holiday!) when I saw JoAnn's post about some root beer floating something. I'll ask about it on your blog! I didn't have a pic for today so ... thanks for the idea JoAnn.

Day 170 Thursday, June 18

Another little visitor we had today! This morning I had to remove a big spider from our bathroom (L. wasn't too sure about the spider been friendly so hop she had to go!) and tonight just before bedtime, the girl spotted this little fellow on our wall! Love to look at them but I prefer them outside and not inside my home.

DAY 168 - 169

2009-06-17T21:46:00.005+02:00

Day 169 Wednesday, June 17

My girls painted some little plates the other day. Today was the first time they used them ... to eat some strawberries. I thought it was cute to see a real strawberry next to Anouk's painted one. Oh, in case you wonder, she painted a cone of ice cream and a waffle to go with her strawberry. Isn't that yummy?

Day 168 Tuesday, June 16

Just some Belgian cows. They weren't too impressed by my camera. I didn't notice at the time I took the pic but aren't they all looking the other way?

DAY 166 - 167

2009-06-15T23:51:00.002+02:00

Day 167 Monday, June 15

Not a very sharp pic but isn't Fu the cutest? Love the way he always tries to get our attention.

Day 166 Sunday, June 14

The weather report said sunny and warm! Well, this is what we got: rain, rain and some more rain... all day long!

DAY 165 - Yummy white currant

2009-06-13T22:22:00.005+02:00

Marleen, these are White currant berries, a member of the genus Ribes (this is Wikipedia talking - not me!). I had to look it up, didn't know the English word for it. We can buy lots of red currant in the summer but I never saw the white one in the stores. They are delicious! I would love to send you some but ... not sure they would look as yummy on arrival... Alaska is so far away!

Day 163 - 164

2009-06-12T22:54:00.007+02:00

Day 164 Friday, June 12

I just discovered today that all the yummy things growing in our garden are showing off the most delicious colors.

Here some more:

Day 163 Thursday, June 11

This little flower is bloming in our garden. All by herself! No brothers or sisters... just her! Don't know where she comes from. But isn't she beautiful?

DAY 154 - 162

2009-06-10T23:45:00.017+02:00

Day 162 Wednesday, June 10 TODAY!

A very blurry pic for today but I just love the way my basil looks today. Bought it yesterday, gave it some extra water this morning and look at how gorgeous it looks tonight! Well, you need to look behind the blur to see its beauty. Isn't it strange that sometimes the most unimportant things can make your day better?!

Day 161 Tuesday, June 9

I bought this trunk from a colleague and it's standing in my living room right now. My DH has this funny hat he wears sometimes when the sun is shining and he wants to feel like he's in the South of France, sitting on a terrasse & enjoying a vacation with a glass of wine in his hand. I though the hat & the trunk looked very nice together!

Day 160 Monday, June 8

Couldn't resist! I had to buy all the different Chinese tea they had in store. I'm not even a regular tea drinker (I'm more a coffee person).

Day 159 - Sunday, June 7

My MIL had these t-shirts made by a charity she sponsors and wanted me to take some pics and email them to her... but I think this isn't right, right? What's wrong in this picture?

Day 158 - Saturday, June 6

We bought the girls some thermo suits today. The water in our pool is really, really cold... especially when the temperature outside is only 16°C (60°F)! Daddy doesn't mind when he has his thermo suit on, so A. wanted to give it a try too. But even so, it was really toooooo cold for her.

Day 157 - Friday, June 5

Don't they look YUMMY!!!!

Day 156 - Thursday, June 4

Oops, didn't have a pic for today. I'll use this one, i took it for a little project we have over at CDS: taking pics of numbers between 1-365. It's a lot of fun.

Day 155 - Wednesday, June 3

Think, baby think!

Day 154 - Tuesday, June 2

This is one of the very rare pics we have on show in our living room.

DAY 153 - The 3 of us

2009-06-01T23:28:00.006+02:00

The 3 of us! I almost never have pics of me with the girls. I'm always the one handling the camera but today I handled it over to DH. I remembered a discussion at CDS about being in the pics with our kids more often and I just loved K's reply: "The only pics I like are the one with my kids, something about them transforms me in my eyes" And you are so right! Only thing --I need to practice on my smile (need to loosen up a bit) -- but I really do like this pic of the 3 of us. Thanks, K.

Day 146 - 152

2009-05-31T23:44:00.002+02:00

Day 152 Sunday, May 31

The girls gave us this bouquet. Beautiful! So we thought too, until we saw they had picked some of our very young white lavender. DH wasn't too thrilled about that!

Day 151 Saturday, May 30

Grilled succini and chicken

Day 150 Friday, May 29

We had a visitor

Day 149 Thursday, May 28

Not the best shot, that's true but I love it anyway. These are white lavender plants we have in our garden.

Day 148 Wednesday, May 27

Still enjoying the little flowers I got for Mother's Day.

Day 147 Tuesday, May 26

My supply of sezchuan pepper - used it once so far!

Day 146 Monday, May 25

Just playing together...

DAY 144 - 145

2009-05-24T20:50:00.006+02:00

DAY 145 Sunday, May 24

Gorgeous weather today! The girls were having fun in the pool... although it took like forever for L. to jump in, the water was still very cold... A. was helping her to get used to the water. Isn't' that sweet? Love to see my girls having fun together.

Day 144 Saturday, May 23

Where did Fu's head go? This dog is so much fun! Here he's acting crazy because the girls were in the pool laughing and having fun... and he wanted to play along but ... I think he's afraid of the water so instead of coming closer he was actually moving backwards and shaking his head. So, did you find it?

DAY 143 - girls & bikes

2009-05-22T23:37:00.002+02:00

DH is going to put this wonderful oldtimer for sale so we took some pics before it's gone. Anyone interested? Gorgeous, right!

DAY 141 - 142 Poppy

2009-05-21T18:21:00.006+02:00

Day 142 Thursday, May 21

The girls were so captivated by this flower. This beautiful poppy was standing all alone on the side of the road and was dancing proudly in the wind.

Day 141 Wednesday, May 20

That's all what's left from my Mother's day bouquet, hope to keep these a few more days.

Day 138 - 140

2009-05-19T22:50:00.016+02:00

Day 140 Tuesday, May 19

This is the cover from a new cook book I bought today. I can't resist a book about Asian food: I need to look in it and if it's not too expensive, it always ends up in my shopping bag.

Oh, I forgot to answer a question from Bentonflocke in my last entry, sorry: We lived near Köln. We left Germany about 20 years ago but still love to go back.

Day 139 Monday, May 18

I'm saving for a macro lens but in the meantime...

Day 138 Sunday, May 17

DH playing with the girls, tickling L.

L.: "Daddy, come back pleeeeease..." I wanna tickle you!!!!!

Day 135 - 137

2009-05-17T15:44:00.006+02:00

Day 137 Saturday, May 16

Today was another day of Ballet! This is a pic of the program. The dancers had to be at the theater at 6:00 pm - show started at 8:30 pm and finished at 11:40 pm for the second night in a row. The kids were exhausted but loved every minute of it! We (some of the moms) weren't too thrilled about the late hour and are definitely looking to find a different ballet school for next year... where there will be some consideration for the young age of most of the dancers and performance will start much, much, muuuch earlier in the day. And where we are alloyed to take pics!!! I'm soo frustrated about that too! We will get a DVD but I'm not sure L. will be visible on it: she was dancing behind a much much bigger girl, so much for coreography, right.
Our girls also only did one dance, L. wasn't allowed to dance the final because she missed one practice (it was during holidays - and we weren't in town): that's what makes me the most angry. She never missed a lesson until Easter break when we went on vacation for a week. And because of that, she had to wait and look at her friends performing their last little dance before the end of the show. Another girl brought her and a few other little girls in the same situation on stage minutes before the end. She didn't mind about this but I DO! Sorry I had to vent a little I guess. Should do that at CDS, not here but oh, well it's over and she loved it! That's the important thing!

Day 136 Friday, May 15

Today was an important day for L.: her first BALLET performance.
She did great! We only saw her for about 5 minutes in a 2,5 hours show but she was amazing! Even if it's my mommy's heart speaking. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pics during the show or backstage. So this is a pic taken at midnight after the show when we went for French Fries - silly idea of DH - but our little ballerina was so hungry...

Day 135 Thursday, May 14

L. is cleaning the tree-house, well that's what she started to do ...

DAY 134 - Haribo

2009-05-13T23:11:00.005+02:00

Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo

... and my kids aren't any different. These are L.'s (and DH's) favorite: Haribo gummi candy "Happy-Cola"! We call them "cola flesjes" and we know the slogan in German so well : Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso. We used to live in Germany when we were kids, in the land of Haribo! Wow, 3 different languages in 1 post! Cool, right!

DAY 133 - Closer look

2009-05-12T23:34:00.004+02:00

A much much closer look at my Mother's day bouquet! Love this photo, even if it's not that sharp.

DAY 131 + 132 Mother's Day

2009-05-11T22:19:00.003+02:00

DAY 132 Monday, May 11

And this is the bouquet flowers A. gave me yesterday( She went to the store with her daddy!)
little note: I love you!

DAY 131 Sunday, May 10 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
I couldn't post just one pic today. I got the most wonderful gifts today

from L.

from A. She also had a poem but she wrote it all by herself and knew it by heart. She's going to write it down for me... later, she said.

L. made this strawberry marmelade with her teacher, it's delicious!

and ... the most precious gift ... my girls laughing and having fun!

DAY 127 - 130

2009-05-09T20:36:00.001+02:00

DAY 130 Saturday, May 9

Beautiful creature but unfortunately the girls and I have such a fear of these... This one and a lot of his family found a home in our garden, sigh!

DAY 129 Friday, May 8

L.'s hair were getting way too long and the ends were very very thin so today, we went to the hairsalon for some extra care and a new haircut.

No big changes - just 15 cm shorter! She still has long, long hair but it looks much healthier now and the most important thing : SHE 's happy about it!

DAY 128 Thuesday, May 7

My mom always buys little gifts for my girls. I always say she doesn't have to, but she can't stop. She just loves it. The other day she had 2 beautifuls butterflies: a blue and a pink one. We put them in the garden for some extra color: nice, right!

Day 127 Wednesday, May 6

Please, let me take another pic, pleeeease! I needed some specific pics for a LO I had to make (a scene I wanted to create) and after some resistance A. gave me a little smile. I so love her!

DAY 126 - Our panda's

2009-05-05T23:43:00.008+02:00

I had a hard time finding something to take a pic of today. I was looking in the girls room and saw these 2 guys smiling at me. We hung(hanged?) these cute self-made panda's on our front door when we came home from China... so everyone could see that our girls were finally home. I still find them the cutest.

Marleen, yes those grenade apples from yesterday are pomegrants. I had to google, I had no clue how to call them in English... we call them "granaatappelen" in Dutch.

DAY 124 + 125

2009-05-04T23:07:00.005+02:00

Day 125 - Monday, May 4

Healthy and DELICIOUS!!! These are grenade apples and the very favorite fruit of both my girls.

Day 124 - Sunday, May 3

They never have enough furry friends, right? Tiger & Panda are the latest addition to my girls collection of stuffed animals. They are so soft and cute, we couldn't just leave them at the store.

DAY 123 - little trooper

2009-05-02T22:51:00.002+02:00

L. loved the games at scouts camp today... until they had to put their face in water and then in some flour. She made me laugh! She was so funny when she tried to explain it to me. She really couldn't see the fun in it. This was really NOT her thing. She tried to clean her face with a Kleenex but didn't get all of it. But she's a good sport and allowed me to take a pic. I had to beg for a smile though!

DAY 122 - Summer

2009-05-01T23:50:00.000+02:00

We had a wonderful "Summer" day today! We took advantage of the nice warm weather and went biking. Now that I have a second photographer in the family, I'm not always the one taking the pics: A. took this pic of her sister while we stopped for a few minutes and a sip of water.

DAY 121 - nice job

2009-04-30T23:47:00.000+02:00

Isn't this fun? Winter is over, Spring is there and Summer isn't too far away so: TIME to clean the pool! A. is trying to catch a stone at the bottom of the pool. L. is giving instructions of course. She prefers to let the others do the hard work, LOL. And Fu, well he always has to be where all the fun is so, he's watching carefully.

DAY 120 - A favorite

2009-04-29T22:46:00.003+02:00

Fu is trying to get some attention from A. but she's watching her favorite soap on TV: Louis Louise (made in Belgium). Nothing could disturb her when she watches it. I don't understand the fuzz about this show, it's more for adults then for kids but all her friends are as hooked on it as she is. There are even days that she won't eat at the table with us but in front of the TV (of course, after she gets our permission).

DAY 117 - 119 Playmobil

2009-04-28T23:26:00.001+02:00

Day 119 - April, 28 Playmobil

My girls had amazing grades on their school report this Friday. We wanted to reward them a little and went toy shopping today: they always wanted some playmobil but never got some because these little guys are so expensive. But ... today, they got their first set. Not much but enough to be HAPPY and not wanting to go to bed tonight but stay up so they could play, play and play some more.

Day 118 - Monday April, 27

Can you see it? A. wanted to show her earrings because she thought you couldn't see them on the previous pics I posted.

Day 117 - Sunday April, 26

It was my DH's birthday today but I totally forgot to take pics of him or the cake I baked (hum, read: bought!) so here's the digital card A. made for him. Hope this counts too!

DAY 116 - Lovely ears

2009-04-25T23:08:00.001+02:00

LOOK at their ears!!!! Yes, EARRINGS... They both were so brave, no tears at all! A. choose some very cute little orange flowers. Little sis had to choose the same, of course. But she preferred the blue ones. We aren't too thrilled about this, DH and I but he promised the girls years ago they could have some at age 7. A didn't want them when she turned 7 but L. has been whining about this for the last 2 months: she's 7 now, you know! Big girl and big girls are allowed to have earrings so ... today was the day!

DAY 115 - Play

2009-04-24T23:27:00.000+02:00

Fu playing with the only toy he has (inside the house): an old bath towel. Nothing can survive with this dog. He can tear any toy to pieces in no time. I bought him toys manufactured in rubber especially for big dogs but nooo, Fu just get his teeth into it and voilà: you have like a zillion little toys to play with.

He loves his towel, he really plays with it, he loves it when we pull on one side and he pulls on the other side, or when we throw it in the air for him to catch, or tearing it to pieces too but when it's really ripped to shreds ... he gets a new one to play with.

DAY 114 - dirty feet

2009-04-23T23:14:00.002+02:00

A : Mom, my feet are dirty!

Me : Well, go wash them.

A : Where?

Me : In the bathroom, silly! Use the shower or the bathtub.

A : O.K.

and this is how I found her when I entered the bathroom. Well, not quite, she was standing on a stool with one foot in the sink . My heart stopped for a second... I made her sit down and we washed her feet. I really had to make this my pic of the day!

DAY 113 - Tinker Bell

2009-04-22T23:39:00.003+02:00

This is a brand new Tinker Bell lying on L's bed! Sorry, you can't see her very well. The girls love their new bed covers: a gift from my mom for Easter.