Vastine adVentures

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Beach Decor

We have an interesting layout for our upstairs bathroom. In most Belgian homes, the toilet is separate from the rest of the bathroom, as is the case in our house. This is really a terrific set up and quite handy with a boy and girl in the house. In our Morton house, the kids had a beach themed bathroom. To avoid more spending, we opted to carry the same theme over to this house. They had a great "to the beach" towel rack, but it lost three pegs on the trip over, so that is going in the trash. Boooo! :( Most of the sink/shower room is tile, so that has posed a bit of a problem for hanging. I used 3M hooks on the tile for their towels, and hung a "lifeguard on duty" sign in the toilet area. But, it looked so boring. I needed something to spice it up and give it some personality. We have been on some really terrific beach vacations to Destin, Orange Beach, and Mexico. With those vacations have come some of my most favorite pictures of our family and friends. I wanted a way to display them...a lot of them...cheaply. And, Voilá! This is what I came up with. And, no I did not see this on Pinterest, but I'm sure it has been done before. :) The cost of the pictures was less than $20 (Chris picked them up when he was home...and I ordered way too many that I will probably just tape to the back of the bathroom door) and the clothespins were under 3 euros.

Last night, I backed all of the pictures with fun scrapbook paper. This is the sink/shower part of the bathroom. 3M hooks are holding the twine because this is tile...no holes here!

This is the toilet area. I hung all of this a bit too high. You'll have to crane your neck when you are sitting on the potty. :)

And, the other side of the toilet room.

Some of the details...super cheap because most of it was things I already had!

Can you see the sweet little umbrella brad above Allison's picture. Love it!

So, when you use the toilet and sink in my house, you'll have something to look at. If you're in there a while, I won't be too concerned. :)

Until next time,

Wendy

Birthday Recap

Thomas had a wonderful birthday! Thank you so much to all of you that took the time to leave him messages on the blog or Facebook. It really made his day special. He had an awesome surprise last night...his third grade class in Morton Face Timed (is that a verb?) him. He just kept saying, "Oh my gosh!" After talking to each classmate, he was able to talk to his beloved Mrs. Denner. He said seeing his class and teacher was the best part of his birthday. :)

The Muppets and Tin Tin from Aunt Amy and Uncle Jerry! We can't buy the movies here, so they are always a welcomed gift.

Cupcakes to take to school. Thomas gave them a thumbs up!

Opening a present from Allison (that Mom paid for...of course.)

Yay! Legos!!!

Thanks for the cash Aunt Nicole and Uncle Jeremy! He already has it spent and hasn't even exchanged it yet!

Opening presents from Mom and Dad.

Star Wars shirts

A new backpack...his broke a few weeks ago, so he is using the one from kindergarten. Time for a new one!

I LOVE this reaction!

He has wanted a skateboard for a loooong time. He is super excited to now have one. Won't it be great on our cobblestone drive and dirt road??? Looks like I'll be hauling Thomas and the board to Tervuren Park and its well paved paths.

The cake...do you like the fondant characters? Hahahaha! Just kidding. I can barely make a cake!

Oops! We bought trick candles!

Face Time with his class at home.

He loved chatting with each classmate!

Now to plan the party with his friends. Wish me luck! :)

Until next time,
Wendy

Monday, March 26, 2012

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Nine years ago today, that sweet baby in my belly wasn't moving. I was relieved they would induce me in the evening. I had been dilated to a 3 for 21 days! I was so ready for this baby to arrive...and was worried he/she wasn't moving. It was a textbook birth though. They broke my water at 7:00 P.M., pushing by 7:35 P.M., and HE was born at 7:45 P.M. My sweet, sweet boy...I hadn't really hoped for a boy. I knew it would be fine if I had one, but I knew girls. I had a sister, I had a baby girl, but a boy...I just assumed I was having another girl and didn't give it a lot of thought. That sweet boy was wound pretty tight in the umbilical cord, but praise God, he was just fine. When I held him for the first time, it was like nothing I could explain. My boy...I had a boy...I had a mama's boy. He was BIG...all 9 lbs. and 21 inches of him. He went home in 3-6 month clothes. He got bigger...16lbs. 12 oz. at 2 months. Yep...you read that right. He's my boy. Nine years old and still wants me to snuggle with him at night. Still leans his head on my shoulder when we are out to dinner. Still climbs on my lap whenever he can. Fine by me...I'll take it as long as I can. You see, I can sense the changes. He is growing up little by little. There are things that embarrass him now. It's not quite so cool to have your mom around, but he will always be my baby boy. My sweet boy. Happy Birthday my little love, the one that melts my heart, the one I thank God for every night before I go to sleep. I love you so much Thomas.