Last day to vote for my friend Barbara Paanakker!

Please vote here. 

If all my followers vote once today, I'm sure we'll catch up to the person in first place!

Go followers!!!

EyeBuyDirect giveaway

I just realized I forgot to tag my EyeBuyDirect giveaway under my giveaways, so it got lost in my posts, this is a $100 gift certificate to a pair of glasses, please enter here.

Do not miss out on this chance!!!

Deadline is 5/10/09.

Wordless Wednesday

cleaning and laundry... all day long...

Angela Vinez Designs: blog designs, boutique and more: review and giveaway CONTEST CLOSED

Thank you all for entering!!!

The winner of this giveaway is....drumroll please.....

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
29
Timestamp: 2009-05-13 17:30:36 UTC

The winner is EllyBean with "I would get the Custom Tutu & Matching Bow Set for my daughter for her birthday next month!"

Congratulations! I've send you an email to confirm.

=================================================

Angela Vinez specializes in photography, design services, and supporting WAHMs in their businesses. She offers fast, friendly service, reasonable rates, and free listings for all work at home moms and their businesses. She also hosts reviews and giveaways on both the family blog as well as the Buy By Mom Blog.

I'm impressed how she can do what she does on top of being a mom of 5 adorable kids. She is a supermom!

As you might already know Angela, founder and creator of Buy By Mom is the brilliant designer of my blog! If you're looking for something new and refreshing for your blog, ask Angela, she's so easy to work with and will design whatever it is you're looking for! 

Now apart from designing blogs, buttons, banners,... Angela also has a boutique and this is what I want to let you know about. Are you looking for something original for Mother's day, please have a look at her boutique. 

There's some really original ideas you can get for Mommy dear!

From bags to necklaces to bracelets,...

I am loving the rings in the middle, very original, I haven't seen rings like these before.

I was send a beautiful tutu and matching bow to review. Getting the package was a surprise on its own as the box was huge, the tutu was perfectly spread out, not folded. 

Angela's tutu's are completely customized, you pick the tutu color (I selected light pink as the primary color and sparkly white as the accent color).

The tutu is very poofy and can be made to fit your infant, toddler or young girl's waist, it comes with a ribbon tie in the back.

The tutu comes with a coordinated bow attached to your choice of headband (I selected an alligator clippie)

See below for the result!!! Abby LOVES the tutu.

Angela has very generously offered a $40 gift certificate to her website. If you need to upgrade your blog, or you've seen some nice jewelry, this is the chance to get it.

Head on over to Angela Vinez Designs, have a look around and tell me what you would use your gift certificate on.

Additional entries (separate comment for each):

* vote for my friend Barbara Paanakker here, picture of the painting is at the top of my blog

* blog about this giveaway linking back to Angela Vinez Designs and my blog (leave URL)

* follow me on Twitter and tweet about the contest

* add my button to your blog, leave the URL

The deadline for this giveaway is 5/12/09 midnight PST. The winner will be emailed and announced at this post on the 12th.

Thanks you so much Angela, you rock!

Magnaplay Mother's Day contest

I couldn't help myself in letting you know about this contest over @Magnaplay.

MagnaPlay Mother’s Day Mom Contest

“MOM” – Being called that is a precious gift in itself. What Moms do for their children is priceless. MagnaPlay fully understands the commitments and responsibilities that come with the title MOM. To show our appreciation to Moms we are hosting a Mother’s Day Mom Contest.

2 Lucky Moms will be able to win a $50 VISA Gift Card. (how cool is that)
1 Mom blog spot nominated by Moms will receive the MagnaPlay Best Mom Blog Award.

To enter the contest, you have to do the things listed below. You will not be eligible for the contest if you complete only one of the two items given below.

1. Tell us about your favorite Mom Blog and why you like it. You as a Mom now have a chance to nominate
your best Mom blog for the MagnaPlay Best Mom Blog Award. The blog has to be hosted by a Mom to be
counted as a valid entry.
2. Tell us what you enjoy most about being a Mom.

Please send us the requested information using the form on the Contact Us page. You need to leave a valid email ID to enter the contest.

The Contest will end Wednesday May 6, 2009 at 11:59 PM PST. This contest is open to Moms and US residents only. Winners will be picked using Random.org.

Mother’s Day Mom Contest Winner
The names of the 2 winners will be announced on Mother’s Day. Please visit our Contest Page on Mother’s Day to see who the winners are! The winners will be contacted via email and have 48 hours to respond. If there is no response another winner will be chosen.

MagnaPlay Best Mom Blog Award Winner
The blog that receives the most number of nominations will be awarded the MagnaPlay Best Mom Blog Award. The winner will be announced on Mother’s day.

The winner will be featured as the MagnaPlay Featured Mom Blog of the year and a link will be created from our Mom Partners web page to the Award winner’s blog. MagnaPlay will become a sponsor of the blog and participate frequently in giveaways and special deals for their readers.

Bamboo Hugs CONTEST CLOSED

Thank you all for entering. I need to be more direct with my instructions I think as I've had lots of entries that didn't match the requirements. I didn't delete any but just skipped the ones that didn't meet the required info.

Random Integer picked a number:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
11
Timestamp: 2009-05-12 21:36:09 UTC

And the winner is TJ and Amy. An email has been send to the winner.

Thank you all for reading my blog and entering the giveaways.

====================================================

Spish, spash, spish, spash,... that's what Abby says when it's time to go in the bath! As lots of kids out there, she loves it, loves the bubbles, the more the merrier!

Getting out of the bath is a different story, not so much fun as being in it.

I was so happy to have gotten the opportunity to review the kitty Bamboo Hugs hooded towel.   

Not only is this double layered towel fun for Abby, it's very soft and feels luxurious. The certified organic bamboo from Bamboo Hugs is also anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, hypoallergenic, UV protective, pesticide free, and has superior absorbency.

This kitty towel was designed by Claudia's daughter Lydia (Mommy's little helper) when she was only 7 years old. Lydia supports charities for homeless animals and a portion of the sale of this towel goes towards those charities.

Bamboo Hugs offers an adorable collection. With the Summer vastly approaching the Big Kid Beach blanket and the Hooded baby blanket are a must. They will provide the well needed UV protection every kid needs.

Bamboo Hugs has generously offered a 15% discount for all my readers, just use the code BOO at checkout. This code is valid till 6/1/09.

You also have the chance to win your favorite item from Bamboo Hugs! 

To enter, visit Bamboo Hugs, have a look around and let me know which animal the next Hug should be? (this step is required before you can add additional entries)

Additional entries (separate comment for each):

* who would the item be for?

* follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (leave the link)

* blog about this giveaway, linking back to Bamboo Hugs and my blog,    leave the URL

* add my button to your blog, leave URL.

The deadline for this giveaway is 5/11/09 midnight PST. (US and Canada) The winner will be emailed and announced on this post on the 12th.

Thanks Bamboohugs!!

It's Friday!

The sun is shining and it's Friday, what a great day!!! Yeeehaaaaa! 

I'm so ready for Ann's VGNO.

Ladies, tonight I'll be serving lemon drops and very yummie appetizers, come and join!

           

You're not really into lemon drops? Let me know what drink you like.

See you later!

Oh, by the way, what a better way then to have a lemon drop and an appetizer and to vote for my friend Barbara HERE (I know, I'm not giving up till the 1st of May!)

Second place!!!!

Thank you all who has voted for my friend Barbara Paanakker, she's now in second place (which means she's in the group show!), but I'm sure she can make 1st place and get the solo show, she only needs 6% more to become #1! 

If you think about this, if all my followers only vote once, I think we can make it for sure!!!! We can vote every 24 hours, so keep voting!

PLEASE VOTE HERE

Biggs & Featherbelle for Mother's Day: review and giveaway CONTEST CLOSED

Thanks you all for reading my blog and entering my giveaways, I really appreciate it!

I absolutely love Biggs & Featherbelle!

The winner of the gift set is...........

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:
45
Timestamp: 2009-05-08 16:23:24 UTC

And the winner is Keitha.

I've send you an email, please get back to me within 48 hours.

====================================================

Ok moms (I should really say dads), I have the perfect Mother's Day present for all the moms out there!Which mom can not use some pampering once in a while? I sure do!!!

Wait no longer, Biggs & Featherbelle have the right products for that.

I love the story behind the company of 2 amazing sisters!
Sisters Kelly and Kasey Evick created Biggs & Featherbelle in January 2003. A magazine article inspired the pair to make 'melt and pour' glycerin soaps as Christmas presents. With backgrounds in the Fine Arts and Fashion, the two had fun creating unique recipes, packaging and clever names for each item. The gifts were a big hit.
Their family had always been proponents of alternative healing practices and consumers of natural beauty products. So, it seemed fitting to continue exploring the benefits of botanicals. The innocent investigation soon turned to obsession. The sisters quit their day jobs and

devoted every hour to research and invention, striving to create the products they couldn't find on the shelves. Fueled by encouragement from friends and family, the word spread to local festivals, then regional fairs and eventually in stores throughout the U.S.

So who are Biggs & Featherbelle you ask?

Biggs & Featherbelle are somewhat fictional. Biggs (formerly Bubba) is a character inspired from our kitty cat named Diesel. Featherbelle is a fusion of Kelly & Kasey. Biggs & Featherbelle represent a broad spectrum of people from manly tough to girly sweet. The characters were developed and illustrated by our friend Brian Dugan (who prefers to stay behind the scenes).

I was send the sweet coffee scrub and the beauty soak to try out and my favorite definitely is the beauty soak. As soon as I opened the box, the scent of a complete spa experience hit me! And that was even before I used it in my bath. It reminded me of a real Spa experience I had in The Netherlands some years ago. The scent is amazing, it's relaxing and the soak makes your skin soft and smooth.

I love coffee, love the smell of it, probably drink it too much so I was very happy to review the sweet coffee scrub.

I love the scent and when using it, it does scrub the dead skin of your body, leaving it all smooth. It mentions on the container to use it under the shower, but I was in the bath and couldn't wait to use in in the shower so I tried it there. This is definitely one you should use in the shower, so the coarse salt and coffee scrub goes down the drain while you're showering.

I will definitely get myself some more of the beauty soak, it's wonderful and really does give you the feeling you've been to a real spa, but then for a whole lot less $$$.

Biggs & Featherbelle have a lot more products in their store than the 2 mentioned above. There's something for everybody.

There's soaps, lip balm, body butter bars, belly balm, gift sets and tees.

Are you ready for this?

You can win a great gift set from Biggs & Featherbelle. The Mini Bar gift set contains 8 of their amazing soaps in an adorable hand painted box! 

To enter, visit Biggs & Featherbelle and sign up for their newsletter. Let me know the email address used so we can check. (this is a required entry to be able to use the extra entries)

Extra entries (leave a separate comment for each):

1) blog about this giveaway linking back to my blog and Biggs & Featherbell (leave URL in comment)

2) vote for my friend Barbara's amazing painting HERE 

3) tweet about this giveaway (leave link)

4) add my button to your blog (leave URL)

5) become an email subscriber of my blog

The deadline to enter is 5/7/09 at midnight PST. The winner will be emailed and announced on this post on the 8th. The winner has 48 hours to get in touch with me. (US entries only)

Thanks Kasey for the wonderful relaxing opportunity to review these products!

ele-ahbaant: review and giveaway: CONTEST CLOSED

Thank you all so much for entering this giveaway! I appreciate all of your support for my friend Barbara!

The winner is......

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
40
Timestamp: 2009-05-08 06:11:51 UTC

And this is Jeff&Mandee. I've send you an email, please respond within 48 hours.

===============================================

I have the pleasure to introduce you to ele-ahbaant, an Australian company that sells cool clothes and a whole lot more for funky kids.
About the company:

ele-ahbaant was born of a desire to find unique, yet affordable clothing for kids without sacrificing quality.

Our priority in our search for clothing, is to support Australian designers & ethical (sweatshop free) & environmentally friendly clothing, made from natural, breathable fibres.

It all started with an appliqued elephant & a lovingly stored matinee` jacket...
and ele-ahbaant??

it's what my husband (& biz partner) called elephants when he was little...cute huh?

I was send the ele-ahbaant designs angel tee and I have to tell you it's very cute and it matches about anything. The applique is just darling and still looks the same after washing then it did before! You can't really see the head of the angel here but you get the picture.

There's something for everybody, babies, toddlers, kids from 1-8. 

Here are a few examples:

How cool is this Blick

Race-ya Restick?

Or how adorable is this 

Blick Daisy Restick?

I am really loving these dresses! They are adorable!

If you want to keep updated on the latest and greatest of ele-ahbaant, check out their blog.

ele-ahbaant has very generously offered to give away a ele-ahbaant design applique tee 

(winners choice) to one of my lucky readers!

For a chance to win, head on over to the ele-ahbaant applique tees and let me know which one of the design applique tees you would like to win (make sure you're sure cause this is the one you will win, and this step is required before you add the additional entries).

For additional entries (leave a separate comment for each):

1) Which other item apart from the applique tee would you love to own?

2) sign up for the ele-ahbaant newsletter (let me know the email address used)

3) vote for my friend Barbara to win a solo exhibition in NYC, see link here

4) subscribe to my blog

5) blog about this giveaway linking back to ele-ahbaant and my blog, let me know the URL

6) tweet about this giveaway, leave twitter link

The deadline for this giveaway is 5/6/09 midnight PST. The winner will be emailed and announced on this post on the 7th. This giveaway is open worldwide.

Thanks ele-ahbaant!

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks Blogger!

Thanks for selecting me on Blogs of Note!

 Cheers with a Latte!

(photo by Matt@AbstractGourmet, he has some amazing pictures on there!)

Panic in the house!

Yesterday, I went for a walk to the playground with Abby.....and Simba. Yes you read it right. Simba's been walking with us around the block for a couple of days now, but this was the first time (and last, you'll read later why) he followed us on a different road.

It was a gorgeous day, Abby played a while and then we headed home again, it was too hot! Simba followed us about half way home and then crossed the road heading back to the playground. This was at 2:30.

The kids came home from school, played with some friends, did their homework, and still no Simba. It was 5:30. So we got in the car, drove to the playground and checked some of the streets nearby, no Simba to be found. I was very worried now as he comes home every 2 hours at least, if not more. When I put Abby in the bath, the kids walked to the playground again to check but no Simba. At 8:30pm, my cell phone rings, didn't recognize the number but this is the conversation: "hi, are you missing a cat?"

I was so relieved, Simba was found!!! Simba has a chip and a collar with his name and my cell phone number on it. The house was 2 houses away from the playground and he had been walking between her house and her neighbor since 3:00 onwards! Next question she asks: "is she pregnant?", mhmmm, no he's overweight and has been struggling with losing weight for a while (sound familiar?).

Well, anyway, I went over and picked him up, thanked the lady and Simba's been getting lots of hugs since then!

Stylish European high chair: Minui Handysitt

I need to tell you all about this amazing Danish product Minui Handysitt. You know I'm from Belgium so when I found this company I was over the moon! I love European furniture designs, and this one not only looks fantastic, it's practical too!

Abby was still using Lisa's old highchair (it's a great wooden highchair, still in perfect condition, yes even after 11 years BUT it's big and bulky and takes up a lot of space), so I was very happy that I discovered the Minui Handysitt! This ingenious portable highchair is sleek in design, compact, and can attach to virtually any chair.

The Minui Handysitt comes in 7 different finishes: Natural or black painted birch, with red, brushed steel or black metal arms, or classy Antique.

I was send the classy Antique Handysitt (as seen on the left) and I can not tell you enough how good it looks and how practical it is. Initially I was very disappointed as of course I should be the one person to have the kitchen chairs where it doesn't fit on! BUT the Handysitt fits on Lisa's desk chair so that's what we're using for now as we're in the middle of choosing a new table and chairs for our kitchen (I'm excited about that too!)

The big difference with this highchair is that Abby can just sit with us at the table and eat at the table instead of on her highchair!

It literally takes 30 seconds to set up or take down, easy peasy! Another big seller for me is that it blends so nicely with our kitchen, you hardly notice it’s there.

With its new safety guard and crotch strap, the HandySitt is one of the safest high chairs on the market as certified by TÜV, an Internationally recognized safety testing authority.

Adjustable extendable arms allow it to be secured to most styles of chair, even those with rounded backs. It works on chairs with a back height of 12-19” and back width greater than 13.5”.

A trayless high chair designed for kids 6 months to 5 years old, it’s easy to get your kids in and out without throwing out your back.

Have a look at how easy the install is:

And this highchair is affordable at a price of $149 plus they cover the shipping.

Minui Handysitt has a 100% money back guarantee, they will pay for return shipping and will send $10 to put towards a different highchair, so you can't go wrong there, right?

I can tell you're as excited as I am so I'm very happy to tell you that Minui Handysitt is offering the following discount code "latte" to my loyal readers. The code "latte" has a value of $10 off orders of $149 or more and expires on Sunday, April 26th, 9pm PST (so hurry, you don't want to miss this great offer). Enter this code on the 2nd checkout screen before payment info.

Minui Handysitt, thanks for letting me review this amazing European seat!