Her Happy Place

 

For Olivia's third birthday we asked the family to co-buy her a big girl bed and I thought it was a good moment to update her room a bit from baby to a 'big girl' room. Luckily with the tipi tent she got, new princess sheets, books, toys, shoes & some new framed prints, it was an easy job.
She is so happy and proud with her 'princess bed' and goes easily to bed now.
I just wanted her room to be her happy place, a place to feel safe, happy and loved, a place to read books, sing songs, invent stories & grow.
And she really loves to hang around there & play.

Food, fun & Friends

That's how you can describe our weekend. Saturday we decided to go have lunch at the Barrio Cantina food truck festival in Gent and stroll around a bit after lunch. Nothing exciting to be discovered but still, we love some good street food. 

(If you are wondering what the black line is, across Olivia's eyebrows - it is her impression of Cara Delevingne, made with my mascara - don't ask)

Sunday we went for a swim in our local pool. It had been a while but Olivia still felt confident in the water. I can't wait for her to learn to swim.(These pictures were taken with the GoPro, so a bit blurry and they are stills from videos we made in the water)

 

After our swim, there was a litte fun park set up across the street, so Olivia went jumping for about 45 minutes, screaming 'encore, encore'!

 My good friend CJ invited us for Sunday dinner, and of course we take every chance to see their little bumblebee and enjoy Boo's cooking.

Olivia's 3rd Birthday Party

This Sunday we celebrated Olivia's birthday with friends and family. We were so lucky to have such a sunny & warm afternoon for this celebration and we enjoyed it to the fullest. This time around we went for a gourmet hotdog party with a little dessert buffet. 

We rented a real hot dog broiler (with a turning wheel...so cool)

This is what we served:

We had our baker make custom buns (we don't like the store bought ones) & we had following toppings: 

Organic gherkins

Fried onions

Tomato - cilantro salsa

American style coleslaw

Homemade Ketchup

Home made Chili con carne

Cheddar

and side dish corn on the cob

For drinks we had a mint-ginger & lime lemonade (with or without rum)

For dessert we made a special 3 - chocolate cake with Swiss merengue frosting

 (thanx pinterest)

Waffles (made by my grandfather) with strawberries & cream

watermelon 

Key Lime Pie

Olivia's godmother surprised Olivia with the most beautiful selfmade tipi-tent. All afternoon she just played in there, alone, with Jana, with the baby, with my friends. She loves it! It was difficult to make her sleep in her bed tonight. She got so many presents today! She really is such a spoiled little girl.

 Thank you all for making this a day to remember.

Thank you bompa for making our garden party - proof 

(Bedankt om onze tuin zo mooi te maken!)
And I love it that my man and I are such a great team!