Friday, December 30, 2011

Thankyou 2011.

You were pretty good to us Twenty Eleven. After a few crappy years, i'm pretty happy with the memories of the year we had with you.....
To begin with, i started this here blog, then i began a little handmade business Sadie Mae making baby & children's clothes & accessories to sell at markets with my sister-in-law, Holly. 
If that wasn't enough, back in June i re-joined the workforce in a clothing store after seven years of being a stay-at-home.
All that craziness caused me to loose a lot of weight & i began to have to regularly dye my hair, ha ha.
I discovered & became addicted to Pinterest (pinner's anonymous anyone?), i read the wonderful book Cloudstreet, am learning to crochet & have learnt to balance my work/home life.
Scarlett had a big year too, she had her first birthday & learnt how to walk.
She weaned herself off breastfeeding & began going to creche regularly. 
She has gone from baby to little girl, in almost a blink of an eye.



Amity began Prep & her first year at school. She absolutely thrived on learning & just loved it.
Her reading & writing is beyond awesome & we are quite proud of her end of year report.
She made lots of new little friends, particularly her best friend Amber.
It was her first year also of ballet, which was perfectly dainty for her.
Health wise, things were a little different - she's had numerous blood tests & xrays & been a very brave girl in the process. Some results came back good, but a few things are still being investigated.
She is under the wonderful care of a very lovely lady paediatrician.
She did however, after numerous doses of antibiotics finally overcome years of constant ear problems & her hearing is now back to normal.
The cleverness did not stop in the classroom, this little miss also learnt to ride her bike without training wheels!


And Chas......well it's certainly been an interesting year for him too.
He was in Grade One this year, with a wonderfully kind teacher.
However, our boy was lead astray by a few ratbags in his class, oh we know he's no angel, but the influences he's had haven't been very positive.
On the other hand, he made a best friend Jordan & they have a wonderful friendship.
He struggled a little with his confidence, but we are looking to Grade Two with a positive attitude.
He finally lost his first tooth this year, much to his delight. 
His hair grew to a massive mop of curls, then he caught nits. Bye bye curls.
We have watched him grow from a little boy to almost a tween - everything has to be cool.


The Bloke, well this year has been fairly uneventful for him (i think the rest of us made up for that!)
His beloved Cats won another AFL premiership,
He celebrated a 'special' birthday, 
He said goodbye to an uncle who passed away in October,
and he's done a wonderful job caring for the kids while i'm working - 
he spent a lot of time helping out in the kid's classrooms, much to the gratefulness of their teachers.
As a family in general, we had a few events too that we'll remember......
we sadly farewelled  three very close family members who have moved interstate.
A family reunion was held on my maternal side, it was a great catch up.
And then there's the animals..........it's become quite a menagerie here.
Our poor guinea pig Roxy died, so we replaced her with Snowy who too quickly joined Roxy in guinea pig heaven. The kids gave up on guinea pigs, so Lucky ('lucky' to live), our cheeky white bunny joined us & our other bunny Flopsy.
We also lost a goldfish (which the kids were quite happy to flush down the loo!) & then two more joined the tank.
Then there was the chooks. The Bloke & the kids came home with three fluffy Silkie chooks (that's what happens when you let the kids choose, they chose the prettiest), we waited & waited for eggs, but something else began - their crowing. Turns out our chooks were roosters = unhappy neighbours.
So it was goodbye to the fluffy chooks & hello to our extra friendly four new chooks who provide us well with fresh eggs.
And our Abby cat turned the grand old age of thirteen!
We had four trips to the Emergency Department, with The Bloke having a couple nights stay - in my opinion it was four too many.
So all in all, it was a good year for us.
Hopefully 2012 will be much the same.....
finger's crossed, the big kids have a great year at school & Scarlett picks up toilet training easily (eek!)
And i'm also hoping it'll include some nice new floorboards, a new camera, a new couch & perhaps a new car......but let's not get too carried away now.......
Happy New Year to you all, i hope 2012 is a safe & happy year for you filled with lots of happy memories. xxx


Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry, Merry....



Wishing you, all my lovely blog readers a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all enjoy the special day with your loved ones & if you receive some great gifts.........well that's a bonus! Love to you all. x 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

My Christmas Rant.

It's no secret around these parts that i'm not a fan of Christmas. I dread it every year & when i see the tinsel starting to appear in stores, i just want to run for the hills!

There is one particular thing that is really bugging me these last few years & that's all the Northern Hemisphere style decorations, cards, wrapping etc that's getting around. I just find it totally inappropriate for a Summer Christmas to have snowmen, snowflakes & winter scenes, while we're all sweltering.

Source: flickr.com via Malea on Pinterest


 My kids have often told me Santa only comes when it snows............ummmm well we'd be waiting a while down here if that's the case kids! In 2009, i had the idea that i was going to have an Aussie themed Christmas - a gold painted gumnut wreath, perhaps some kangaroos instead of reindeer, a gum tree to replace the pine tree & NOT a snowman in sight. The kids were horrified!


 They have a fondness for the decorations we have already, so i'm subtly removing some & slowly introducing nice new ones & yes, we still have the pathetic fake pine tree - but i've made my own little Aussie theme on the kitchen table. In a large vase i have some dead twigs with some pretty silver stars hanging on them & if my camera was fixed i'd show you a photo.
As the kids are getting older, i've decided that it's time for some family traditions to begin for us, so this year i explained to them about all the disadvantaged children out there & the kids looked through this book & picked out a softie for me to make for a special child. So yesterday i made "Blossom Bunny", he's very cute & he'll be heading to a special baby via The Smith Family. We left it a little late this year, so i'm hoping next christmas i'll be a tad more organized & each of the kids can pick out their own special softie.  I also make shortbread every year, using my top-secret recipe.........it's good. Santa loves it apparently.
Okay rant over, sorry for boring you to death - i'm now off to scoff some of that shortbread. I'd love to hear about the Christmas traditions you or your family have.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Blogging block.

Sometimes i can think of lots & lots to crap on write about, but this week i've had good old blogger's block, it's not that i haven't had anything to waffle on about - in fact we've had quite an eventful week! I've tried a few times to start a post, but nothing seems to come to my head................thinking i have the Silly Season to blame for that. So i'm going to update you with our latest happenings in point form & hopefully that'll work for me.
: : Started off the week with a sick girl with a nasty tummy bug.....ewww
: : This mumma had a birthday this week, a few nice gifts & lunch out with The Bloke & our littlest munchkin
: : Had a lovely dinner out with my work girls for Christmas, and then.........
: : Mumma, dad & the littlest munchkin all caught the nasty tummy bug - so, so sick.
: : Too sick to take the two bigger kids to school, but so proud of the way they looked after their mum & dad & little sister! Particularly when the power company turned off the power to do some works. They were awesome.
: : Spent a few days relaxing, recovering & listening to Fleetwood Mac & practicing my crochet stitches.
: : Watched Chas & Amity perform at their school Presentation Night & then watched them both win a prize in the raffle! They are always ridiculously lucky when it comes to those kind of things - the only two tickets i bought out of the thousands sold.
: : Woke up to an early morning surprise visit from a brother-in-law who now lives interstate. Was so nice to see him.
: : Crazy, crazy busy afternoon/evening at work yesterday - the coming week is scaring me, lol.
: : Finally got around to re-organizing Chas' room today, a total clean out & shuffle around. A new doona cover & some hanging fairy lights (sounds so wrong for a boy's room, but looks awesome). One happy boy now asleep in his 'new' room.
: : Picked up my new doona cover today - so our room is next on my list. Then looking for some ideas to update the girl's room. (see below).
: : A lazy afternoon spent hanging with our nextdoor neighbours & pizza for tea. Always good.











Hope your week has been a bit better than ours & all your Christmas preparations are coming together nicely. xxx

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Grateful Saturday.

Lots to be grateful for this week..............
grateful to a wonderful friend & a lovely thing she has done for me this week,
grateful to pick up some extra hours this week at work - the money's always good this time of year,
 grateful my brother wasn't injured worse than he actually was in an accident he had, 
grateful my kids have lots of cousins their ages to hang & play with,
 grateful for our four chookies & the lovely fresh eggs they supply us with daily, 
grateful for some warm sunny weather this week, 
grateful for the yummy stuff that's starting to come from The Patch,
and this week i'm especially grateful for family who have been a blessing & have looked after my kids while i've been at work. Thankyou all so much!


Another thing that i'm particularly grateful for this week is the wonderful blogger Craftyminx. She has so kindly put together a Crochet School on her blog, full of free lessons, vimieos & lots of valuable information on learning to crochet from scratch. I have been wanting to learn for a while now & came across Craftyminx's Crochet School - it is fantastic! I began last night & her directions are so clear & thorough, that i'm happy to say, i've already mastered the chain stitch. Don't get me wrong - it took me a while to get the hang of holding the yarn & hook & trying to drop my knitting habits - but by the end of the night, i'd done it! Must admit though my tongue was a little sore from all the concentrating it took : )  Just wish i could share some photos of my progress as i'm going along.
So if you've had an inkling to learn how to crochet, pop over to Crochet School, grab yourself some yarn & a crochet hook (lots of info on how to choose these there too) & before you know it we'll be granny-squaring to our hearts content!

Linking up with Maxabella & all the other grateful peeps..........it's been too long since i've done this.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

What i am doing.........in December.

So this is it for 2011..........my goodness how this year has flown by. I say that every year, but this year i think it really has. It's summer, school's almost over for the year, oh & someone tells me Christmas is coming up too.....

: : listening  not a twighlight fan, but i have a soft spot for bruno & this song
: : cooking  kids have requested another batch of yo-yo bickies
: : drinking  i am addicted to hot choccies
: : reading a book my mum put together - 'A New Beginning', all the life stories of these wonderful        people
: : watching  a lot of sbs lately - does that mean i'm getting old?
: : wanting  christmas to be over already, so i can just enjoy summer & the school holidays
: : remembering  my nanna & nonno, such happy memories
: : sewing  a little something for scarlett's chrissy package
: : wishing  christmas wasn't such a stressful time
: : enjoying  reading this blog - love it Kelly!
: : waiting  to see if we are going to have baby bunnies soon
: : looking forward to my kiddies being on school holidays (january's  post may be a different story)
: : liking  our three new chooks - lucy, mary & jason (kids chose names)
: : wondering  how on earth i am going to make a lion costume for amity?
: : loving that summer is finally here!!
: : hoping  summer throws some heat at us soon.....
: : believing  i will be toilet training a little girl earlier than i thought.
: : wearing  black skinnys & tie dye style singlet
: : following  this blog - love it Kelly!
: : considering  a complete christmas decoration overhaul for next year
: : knowing  with three extra lady chooks, there's going to be a lot of omelettes eaten around here
: : noticing  so many great crochet tutorials out there - can't wait to get started!
: : thinking  next year i will not leave christmas shopping to the last minute (yeah right).
: : needing  to get me a crochet hook & some yarn asap
: : giggling  at The Family. a great show.
: : organizing  the kid's rooms - a clean out is good (especially before christmas)
: : trying  lots of new recipes lately......stay tuned
: : missing my camera (insert sad face here)
: : feeling  vintage

And because my camera is still out of action, i'm back to sharing with you something pretty from Pinterest.

Source: etsy.com via Malea on Pinterest


Some beautiful crocheted decorations, that are perfect for an Aussie Christmas. Happy December to you all!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Treasure.

I haven't shared any treasures for months & that's because i haven't been thrifting for months. So here are some lovely vintage pillowcases that i found on my last thrift-excursion...............way back in July.
I have plans for these lovelies........i'm going to use them as pillowcases - exciting i know, but just between you & i - i have a lovely white doona cover on lay by & some vintage pillowcases will look fantastic with it. My favorites are the yellow floral flanelette ones, they are like brand new & i can't wait to snuggle into them!
Pop on over to Her Library Adventures & check out the treasures Sophie & others have scored this week.
*My camera is still broken, this photo had already been uploaded on to my computer*