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Review: the Dodow

The Dodow - falling asleep faster
By | On January 05,18 | 2 Comments

Through Sampleo.com, I received the Dodow for testing. A small device that’s supposed to help you to fall asleep faster. When I saw the call for testers, I applied right away. Because falling asleep is one of my battles I fight almost every day. I was over the moon when I got confirmation that I was one of the lucky ones.

Wrong address?

Getting the Dodow almost turned into a battle as well though. From the company selling the Dodow, I received an email with the tracking code, which was perfect. The first few days, the shipment was still in pre-alert status and not traceable. No worries yet, though, that does happen a lot. read more

Personal, All articles

Swimming test: frustrations on the sidelines

Zwemdiploma A
By | On December 04,17 | 10 Comments

Last week, our oldest son was up for his swimming test. He was quite excited and had been looking forward to it. We left early to be there on time. The place was already crowded! Was there already a swimming test in progress? No, there were still a few recreational swimmers in the pool.

Fairly small facility

The Wedert, a public swimming pool where the tests are held, is a fairly small facility with a small foyer and a small cafeteria. From the cafeteria and a window in the foyer, you can look inside the pool area. We thought we got there early, but the cafeteria was already packed with people, both sitting and standing, so I went back downstairs with our youngest. Daddy was already gone to the changing rooms with our oldest. In the foyer, there were already many people standing in front of the window. Though still just a few little swimmers had arrived. read more

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Snack Tag: what are your snacking habits?

Snack Tag
By | On November 27,17 | 8 Comments

Merel, owner of Lotus Writings, came up with the Snack Tag a while ago. A tag in which you spill the beans about your most loved snacks and all other guilty pleasures (snack related that is). Alright, this sounds like this could be the unhealthiest list ever. Because snacking is unhealthy. Right? Well, it doesn’t have to be.

Snack Tag Q&A

But don’t worry, I’m not going to play the health guru now. On the contrary. I’m going to answer every question in all honesty. There’s no denying that there are quite a lot of healthy snacks and sometimes, I do like them better than the unhealthy kind. And, there really are people who actually hate a BigMac or French fries smothered with toppings (well, I’m certainly not one of them). Anyway, I totally liked this tag (as I love to snack, obviously) and decided to fill it out too. So here it is. read more

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Photo on Canvas – the perfect gift idea

Photo on Canvas
By | On November 20,17 | 6 Comments

After more than 5 years in this house, we still have no photos on the walls. I think it’s a combination of laziness and not knowing what we want. We do have a few picture frames standing here and there and we’ve recently hung up a few paintings. But we still miss a nice picture on the wall. We’ve talked about a photo on canvas, but we had not yet decided which photo.

Providers

During our summer holidays, we took a really cute picture of the boys and I wanted to do something with it. Once you know, which picture you want to use, you have to go find a provider. There are loads of providers out there. Almost everywhere, where you can print your digital photos, you can order wall decorations. How can you possibly decide which provider to use? read more

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Expo Dino World: top or flop?

Expo Dino World 2017
By | On November 13,17 | 6 Comments

Expo Dino World in Brussels: we’ve made it just in time before the exhibition stopped. With two dinosaur fans, we simply needed to go see it. The boys had seen commercials that the world’s biggest dinosaur exhibition was going to end within a couple of days. Mummy, mummy, mummy, please let’s go, after Sunday we can NEVER go there anymore.

Fall break

Alright, even though we had already visited a dinosaur park, we succumbed. To finish fall break in the best way possible, we ordered tickets on Thursday night to go there the next day. We had to give a time slot in which we had to arrive, but after that, we could stay there as long as we’d like. Daddy had to do a bit of work in the morning, but with the time slot of 10 – 12.30h we would still be able to make it. read more

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The Oertijdmuseum in Boxtel – a prehistoric journey

Het Oertijdmuseum
By | On November 06,17 | 10 Comments

Last week, the boys had Fall break. They went to holiday care for two days, the rest of the week I was at home. Which meant we had time to do some fun stuff together. Our boys are fairly enthusiastic dinosaur fans. It has almost become a tradition to visit a beautiful park, Dinosaurierpark Teufelsschlucht, when we’re on holiday in the Eifel. But we have quite a few cool parks and museums in the Netherlands as well, like the Oertijdmuseum (prehistoric museum) in Boxtel. read more

Kid's Stuff, Miscellanious, All articles

Halloween Treats

Halloween Treats
By | On October 30,17 | 7 Comments

Tomorrow is Halloween night. Whether you celebrate it or not, it’s hard to ignore all the Halloween-accessories, costumes and candy that’s available in the stores. Now that it’s almost Halloween night, they sell everything at high discounts, as they won’t be able to sell anything after the 31st. Very tempting to buy all that stuff. But you can also make cute Halloween treats yourself. If you’re looking for some last-minute inspiration, I have a few nice ideas for you. read more

Kid's Stuff, All articles

How to throw a Pirate’s Party

Pirate's Party
By | On October 23,17 | 20 Comments

Last week, our youngest had his 7th birthday. I had asked him several times already, what kind of theme he wanted for his birthday party and the list was long. Basically anything boys his age like. Currently, that’s mainly Pokémon, he’s still into dinosaurs, Star Wars, Skylanders, dragons and many more.

But as you could read two weeks ago, I was on a small shopping spree at Søstrene Grene in Eindhoven. And there, I found the cutest pirate stuff. As the little guy still could not decide which way to go, I decided then and there that it had to be a pirate’s party. With loads of fun and cool accessories, like skulls and stuff. read more

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In search of the perfect organiser

Personal Planner
By | On October 16,17 | 4 Comments

Year end is rapidly approaching and so is the end of my organiser. There is already a wide collection of organisers, calendars and planners for 2018 available at the stores. A wide selection, but what am I looking for in a new organiser?

Scatterbrain

I’m bad at planning. Well, actually I’m fairly good at planning, but I’m bad at writing everything down. I simply forget to make notes in my organiser. Luckily, I do remember all appointments, so it’s not a huge problem. But I do feel like a scatterbrain when I have to search for my notes every time. read more

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ShopLog #1: Do you really need that?

Shoplog #1
By | On October 09,17 | 6 Comments

Do you really need that? That question often lies at the tip of my loving husband’s tongue. Though he has learned to swallow it, most of the time. But a sigh, hanging shoulders or rolling eyes actually say the same. I have to admit that I often ask that question myself. And often the answer is: no, I don’t need that. Not really. Actually, yes. Yes, I do. Oh, what the heck, who am I kidding? I JUST WANT IT! read more

Kid's Stuff, All articles, Reviews, Tips

Film Days 2017: Bigfoot Junior

Bigfoot Junior
By | On October 02,17 | 6 Comments

Bigfoot Junior

Last week, it was time again for the annual BNP Paribas Fortis Film Days. For four days, you can go the movies at half price, at several theatres throughout Belgium. The perfect moment to take the kids to watch a movie on the big screen again. And so we checked the choices we had for Wednesday afternoon. Our attention was caught immediately by Bigfoot Junior.

Trailer

I watched the trailer and thought right away that that is a movie the boys will like. Strange we had never heard about Bigfoot Junior before, as it already played at the theatres since the 2nd of August. Ordered the tickets online and printed them out. Ready to go. read more

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De Plateaux-Hageven – Transboundary Nature Reserve

De Plateaux-Hageven
By | On September 25,17 | 6 Comments

De Plateaux-Hageven

De Plateaux-Hageven is a beautiful transboundary nature reserve, that partly lies in the Netherlands (de Plateaux) and partly in Belgium (Hageven), just under the town of Valkenswaard. Natuurmonumenten (the Dutch society for the preservation of nature, landscape and cultural history) and Natuurpunt (the Belgian equivalent) have worked closely together over the past years to extensively restore the nature in this area. read more

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Review: plant-based alternatives for dairy

Oat Yogurt with Berries
By | On September 18,17 | 8 Comments

Plant-based alternatives for dairy have been around for a long time, but most had been based on soy. Lately, more and more other alternatives are hitting the stores.

I’ve never been interested in these alternatives. Firstly, because I never needed to. I don’t have allergies nor intolerances. Secondly, I have tried soy milk a long, long time ago and I hated it. Maybe I simply didn’t like the unsweetened kind, but I hadn’t touched any soy-dairy ever since. read more

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Holiday at the farm

By | On August 07,17 | 10 Comments

Holiday at the farm. You either hate it, or you love it. For us, it’s the perfect family holiday. It’s been four years since we’ve taken our first holiday at a farm. Unfortunately, the first two times were a bit disappointing. Other than holiday home rentals (at really good accommodations, I have to admit), this was far from what we expected from a holiday at a farm. The description of the farms let us believe that the kids would truly experience living and playing on a farm, but there was virtually nothing to do there. What a scam. Maybe we needed to adjust our expectations. But we did not want to simply rent a holiday home for a few weeks. We wanted a place where the kids could learn more about farm animals and life at a farm. read more

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A day out: Dinosaurierpark Teufelsschlucht

Dinopark
By | On July 31,17 | 6 Comments

Crazy about dinosaurs

Those who know our kids a little bit, know that they are crazy about dinosaurs. And that even is an understatement. I don’t know how many dinosaurs we have at home, but if it’s up to the boys, more will join the crowd. While our youngest loves to play with dinosaurs and loves to watch movies and documentaries, our oldest has really started to take interest in the history of dino’s, how they came to exist, how they lived, how they developed and how they became extinct. read more

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Review: Restaurant Broertjes

Review Broertjes
By | On July 24,17 | 4 Comments

As you could read in my previous “MondayMusings” blogpost, we were all alone last week. Both the boys were at summer camp. I did have some very mixed feelings about that. But one of the advantages of being kid free for a couple of days, is that we can go out for dinner at a fancy restaurant, just the two of us.

Now I don’t mean fancy as in ‘dress code’ fancy. But with two kids at 6 and 8, not every restaurant is just as suitable. And where do we love to go? To ‘Restaurant Broertjes’ in Dommelen (small town famous for the Dutch beer brand ‘Dommelsch’). read more

Personal, All articles

The Mommy War Tag

Mommy War Tag
By | On July 10,17 | 2 Comments

Mommy War Tag? No recipe? Nope, no recipe this time. For quite a while, I’ve been contemplating whether I should expand my blog or not. To blog about other stuff as well, and not just recipes. Because, sometimes, there are things happening in your life, that you really would like to tell about. Or things you’d like to share.

Lately, I’ve been following more and more mommy blogs. Blogs full of great, funny, sometimes sad stories, DIY ideas, reviews. Which means a lot of fun stuff to read and loads of inspiration. And a lot of recognition. What do moms encounter in daily life, what is on our minds or keeps us awake at night? What kind of funny things, and less funny things, are our kids doing? read more