Another post!! Another good day!!

Woke up to an overcast, kinda shitty day! PERFECT!!! For cooking and being inside with the kids!! YAY!

 Today I, 

Cut up fruit salad to have in the freezer so I can wang some greek yoghurt, almond slivers and take them to work instead of eating crap from the Paragon. But will still have my coffee from there!!! lol!!!

Helped Mia and Lexi make cupcakes. Mia just wanted to make them so we could put the cute little sugar animals on top. (she saw the animals in the cake decorating section, how could I resist??)

  

Cute little animals!

And my personal favourite, the monkey!

Then some painting. Lexi's hair didn't stay down for long, it got a bit of paint in it. I love her concentration in these photos.

The scene.

Mia was giggling at something funny! 

 And messy little gertie Lexi at the end of it! 

I made the Beef, Veg and Barley soup that we had at the Scrapathon. 6 tubs safely in my freezer. (except I just re-read the recipe and realised that I left 2 cups of stock out, whoops, gee I am special at times) 

Also made a gorgeous Red Curry that one of my friends made in her camp oven when we went camping at Easter. So yummy, and full of asian flavour. The softness of the meat went so well with the crunchiness of water chestnuts and bamboo shoots! Mmmmmm....

 Two little comedians at the end of the day. Love them getting clean! (and that it means bedtime soon!!)

 

Well, they are in bed and asleep now! Just before I was sitting here writing about my mundane but happy day, when I heard Lexi yell out for more milk. Yes, she stills has had a bottle of milk in bed when she went to sleep. So I went to her room with the bottle of milk to fill her little bottle up, only to realise when putting the teat back on that about 2cm of teat is missing. Chewed. I ask her where it is. 'in my nose' was the reply... Oh crap!!! So I bought her out to lounge to look up her nose and yep, could see a piece up there. Quick call to Nan (MIL) to ask her to come and sit with Mia who was asleep. One piece came out before we left to the hospital but took her anyway to make sure there was no more. Thank goodness the male and female nurses at the hospital were full of good humour... And no more pieces up there. This kid has a bit of a thing going on with her nose. I have taken her before for a little toy up her nose. And she seems to like it. I thought you only had to worry about crap like that when they were crawling??!!! She certainly keeps me on my toes. 

Just wanted to get that down so I can taunt her with it later on!! Love my girls!! xx

Every Saturday that I can, I go to garage sales. I love them. Usually I go with my Mum and sometimes Mum and Dad, so that Dad can try to look after Lexi, who usually only wants me anyway!!! Crazy kid!! I wasn't planning to go today, but ended up going to them with a friend and her kids, Mia and Lexi too! We had a great time fossicking around the sales, and I picked up lots of little things!! 

Cookbooks. I think these cost $3 or $4 all up. All asian types of flavours! Yum!!

 Two cute little bowls. They will be great for dips and the one on the right will be a great little mixing bowl. 50c each!! 

 I've needed a dish drainer for ages, for those things that you can't put in the dishwasher. This one was brand spanking new without a mark on it. $2.

 Jar of buttons and a rusty old embroidery hoop. Free. Tatum or Lauren, those buttons are your if you want them. I thought of you both when I picked them up.

 A little fisher price toy. 50c but only had 45c left on me, but they took it!! LOL!!!!

 I'm still a cd junkie at heart. Two classic albums. $2 each! I love The Cult. Brings back memories from when I was younger and my brother had this Cult album. So glad I have these both for my collection!!

Tupperware. $1 each. So stoked. I needed a new pasta storer, so was glad to pick it up so cheaply. And the bottom one will be used to hold ice in the freezer. 

I'm going to try to take photos of my treasures whenever I go to the sales. I have been able to get HEAPS of vintage Tupperware lately. I'm into it! 

 ::::::::

After we went to the sales, we went to Cheap As Chips then to the local nursery. Lexi was running amok at both places so I kept it quick. I love love the nursery. Plants and all things gardening get to me. Mia helped me pick out a chilli plant, some cucumber, corn, zucchini, watermelon, basil and coriander seedlings. I also bought a funky new red little ceramic pot to house my new basil... The kids and I picked up Ethan, my nephew on the way home and he came over for the afternoon.... While he was here, I prepped the new vegie patch. The soil here looks and feels really really really good. 

Before...

 And after. We have had lots of rain this week, so all the weeds were fairly easy to pull out. It felt so good to get stuck in. We are slowly getting there with the yard. It all takes time but hopefully will be easy to maintain once all done.

 The kids had bubble fun....

My gorgeous little seedlings. They all smell so good. Like a stirfry in a punnet!! 

Little kiddies under the table eating their shapes and being ratbags... Loved having Ethan here. Even if he did a poo 10 minutes after he got here. I nearly text his Mum to come and change him, but told myself to toughen up princess.... Anyway. He and Lexi are great little mates, so close in age, and have the best time. Although every second word from either of them is MINE!!! LOL!!! I kept telling them it was MINE!! LOL!! 

:::::::

Last week Tatum was here with her little offspring for the Bluebird Markets. Work got in the way of seeing them very much but just have to share this pic of Lexi with Jasmine. Talk about cute. Very!!!! Loved to see this little clan, I miss them all so much! Life is busy, and time slips away but this mob are in my thoughts alot. 

Cute and they know it!!! <3 <3 <3

That's enough for now!! Happy Saturday!! xxxx

 

Scrapathon 2011

The Scrapathon is over for another year, I had a fab time!! Created 11 LO's with 3 others that I started but put aside as they weren't doing it for me! 

My cousin Rosie came with me this time, and we had a ball. She is 9 weeks pregnant so a bit tired at times, we went to bed at 10:30 both nights but chatted until midnight. It was so good to get to know her on our own. Most other times our pretty big family is around, it was actually quite fun to discover things about each other that are very similar!! Lots of giggling, which was so good! 

And now for the photos, in no particular order as I'm far too lazy to re-organise my photos!! lol!! 

 My idea of a perfect breakfast!! Lucky that the girls can read my mind!! Fresh fruit, frozen berries, greek yoghurt + slivered almonds! Was so yum! Deluxe even! If someone made me this every morning, not sure that I would get sick of it. Ever. 

 Dinner Sat night, the YUGEST serving of (kath&kim style of talking there) Warm Chicken Salad with couscous. So many yummy flavours and all my favourite things!! 

 Cars galore....

 The absolute crappiest view EVER! It sucked. Truly.

 ROSIE!!! xx

 Lunch on Sat. Beef, Veg and Pearl Barley soup!! We ALL raved about it for ages, it was really that horrible! (not) The recipe was quickly copied and handed around like hotcakes!!! The flies loved it too.... With a big fat gross one landing in Rosie's bowl... Ewwww.... 

 The welcome sign! 

 Gotta have nibbles, and no Rosie did not have any Camembert. 

The view out the back of the Retreat!! Bit shabby, don't you think?? lol!!

And now for the layouts, was really pleased with them. 

All the LO's were inspired by magazines that I had near me but TWO LITTLE GIRLS one is a direct scraplift from the Scrapbook Trends CREATE: Families (bought from Shabby Chic Shack)  page 47, by Jen Jockisch. I don't know her, have never heard of her, but her LO was gorgeous, so lift it I did!!

Many thanks to Amanda, Meredith, Sue, Kathryn, the shops (Shabby Chic Shack sent me broke!!) and any other helpful person who helped make this weekend happen. They are a real highlight for me, I always ALWAYS come away inspired and excited about scrapping again. I have actually unpacked my tote for the first time since Escape 2 Create earlier in the year. And I'm going to scrap more. I have been loving getting the memories down over the weekend. I'm all set up in my little space, ready for some scrapping, so I had better get to it!!! 

Oh and thanks to all the lovely ladies who stopped by my table and admired my LO's and said lovely things about them, it sure makes a girl feel good when that happens!! Thanks!! MWAH!! 

Thanks for popping in if you have, leave me a comment would ya!! LOL!! xxx

Today

Today was good.

And tonight while hopping around I ended up here from here. And so it seems to me that I'm meant to post. LOL! I was so glad it was the weekend yesterday. I love work but 1pm Friday couldn't come around quick enough. I think I have had enough of some of the customers that come in, I guess you could say I was a bit over them and all their shit. So anyway, was glad that 1pm came yesterday. A skype with a beautiful friend then Mum and Dad came up for takeaway tea! Noodle Bento, I do like you, but my Singapore Noodles were a bit hotter than normal last night!! Phew!!

 

Today was garage-sale-ing, coffee at my Nanna's, home for some craft for Mia, sandwiches, Lexi having a sleep, an un-announced visit from my MIL, me hoping for a Nanna Nap but Lexi woke up 10 mins after she left, a lil bit of vacuuming, a trip to Vinnies to give a heap of sheets and quilt covers that I'm done with, a trip out to one of my Mum's friends empty house to scrounge her agapanthus (would have to have been about 50, not as hard as I thought it would be to get them) while the girls played in the car (keys firmly in my pocket), back home to start planting them (I'm going for a mass planting in an empty patch in the yard) I went hard digging them in, plus a few Calla Lillies that I salvaged too, a nice hot shower to wash all the dirt off, a bubbly bath for the girls, cute pyjamas, tidy house, and now here I am sitting on the lounge feeling good. A good ol productive day. 

Sometimes I am at home on the weekends wondering what my friends are up to and that surely they are having better fun than me/doing more interesting stuff than me/have a more fabulous life than me. 

It's crap isn't it??? 

Everyone is so doing what I'm doing. Hanging with their families, tending to their homes, and raising their babies. Today I am feeling so happy with my lot, and tonight I'm feeling like there is no other place I'd rather be right now than home with my girls, feeling good about my day and all that is in my life. Yay!!! I have crafty plans, realising that I need to get back into scrapping and crafting 'stuff' as it really does make me feel good!!  I am looking forward to the Scrapathon next weekend. There will be a few key people not there and that will make it different for me but I'm going to go in with my cousin guns a blazin and ready to enjoy myself!! 

I miss Brenton when he's not here but we get into a little rhythm in our lives, and then it's not so bad. He's working up there, and I'm being a Mum down here. And although he's not here, Brenton could look at the clock and probably be just about on the money about what we are doing and when!!! Lol!! Maybe I need to be a bit more random!! 

Tommorow brings one last garage sale for the weekend, the Arteyrea Markets in the morning, then a sleep for Lexi while Mia and I do our thing, then a visit to the Public Library in the afty. Mia and I quickly popped in there during the week as they have a book sale on at the moment. I forgot how good it is, and so we are going to join and go and get into the book scene!! I really hope my chicks get a love for book and reading, it really is a wonderful thing to read and get into books I think. For me it is anyway!!

 My Agapanthus. I just love these, not sure why... I love em!!

 And my gorgeous little Agapanthus model!! lol!! <3 <3

 Tonight while the girls were in the bath I noticed Lexi's favourite boots (boops she calls them) and Mr Potato Head (Mr Tatoe) hanging around outside the bathroom, so I grabbed my camera, got down low and started snapping....

And then two little girlies wanted to see what I'm doing!! So cute!! Love them so much!! 

How was your day?? 

x

Mia's birthday + a ramble.

Yay, my little chicks are in bed, I banished them early tonight. Tired, grumpy and coughing. So, just after 7 I put them in. I expect to be up with Lexi at some stage, she has the crappiest cough around. I put Vicks on both the girls chests just to see if it helped. I hope it does. Mia acted as if I had just put a sharp stake through her chest, there was quite a bit of carry on about the Vicks. It tipped me over and bed time was not long afterward. She was also complaining that she was the only girl from her class not invited to one of her classmates birthday tommorow, and it is at Glen Forest too MUM!! I know this childs parents and know that this wouldn't be the case, but she would not reason at all, so another reason for the bed banishment. I could not stand tears and whining over it..... I almost rang the parents to find out about it, so I could tell her for sure, but thought NO, I wouldn't. If she WAS the only girl from her class not invited, so be it. Anyway, that's me for tonight, a bit grumpy bum, but also feeling good within myself. You know when you just feel that all is alright with the world?? Well, that's me... 

I'm looking forward to tommorow, we go to garage sales every Saturday with my parents or if I'm lucky, I can leave Lexi with Dad and just take Mia, which is so much easier. Even if Dad comes with us to look after Lexi, she only wants me to carry her and put her in and out of the car, and it's a pain and makes things take longer, so hopefully we can leave her with Dad for a bit in the morning. It's nice for Mia, Mum and I to go on our own!! (but we love you Lexi!!) 

But ANYWAY, let's get past the dribble here, and get to the fact that this post was meant to be about Mia turning 7!! Firstly, I cannot believe that I am a Mother of a SEVEN year old. I'm so glad I have had my blog for all these years, alot of memories are stored here that I wouldn't have a hope in hell of ever remembering so am glad that they are here to look back on. Lots of little bits and pieces about our beautiful big Mia!! She makes me so proud, she is caring, compassionate, loving, friendly, a well liked kid at school, and has friends from all walks of life at school. And at 7 she SHOULD be friends with all. I hope she is like it at 15 too. I would be proud of her regardless, but hoping that she carries these traits through her life. She understands why some kids are different, as far as adhd, austism, and physical and mental disabilities are concerned. I try to instil in her that while these kids are different, that they are just kids too, just like her. And that everyone is different, and how terribly boring it would be if we were all the same. I certainly wouldn't like or appreciate another 100 of me. One is annoying enough! I'm so pleased that she seems to 'get' the concept of lifes differences. And that is fabulous I think! She is a social butterfly at school and I really need to start getting more playdates organised for out of school with some of her friends and classmates. I think that is lacking for her. But feeling so busy since I started work makes me realise how much time I used to have spare and how little I did with it!! Oh well.

Saturday afternoon, two of Mia's friends, Mattisse and Kara came over. The girls all had a ball using our humungous hallway for fashion parades, playing babies, dressing up, drawing, eating of lots of lollies, and tacos for tea and all were wonderful with Lexi too... They all love her. Especially the two visitors.. All four hopped in the bath together for a wash and while it was squishy and I had to grab Lexi out, it was great fun! PJ's, a movie and popcorn in the playroom with all three in the q size bed together, although had to get the mattress out from under Mia's bed for Kara to sleep on, it was way too squishy for her, although Mattisse had fallen asleep by then.

On Sunday they woke up bright and early (6:20) which I thought was the bestest thing ever! NOT! But anyway, I stayed in bed for a bit, then got up and gave Mia her presents. M & K had bought pressies with them on Sat but Mia decided to wait until her birthday to open them!! 

And then Nanna and Pop thought they would come up at the crack of dawn too to see the birthday girl, but I held them off until I had at least  had a shower!! 

 We had a morning tea for other family members, which was really nice, the kids all played pretty well, I need to clean up our outside area and the backyard, so as next time, it's outside all the way!! lol!! 

 Mia doesn't eat cake as such but loves White Wings babycakes, so that's what I made her instead of a cake. It wasn't flash not absolutely perfect but I didn't think it was fair to make her a cake when she really doesn't like it at all!! But babycakes are another matter!! 

And of course we had to re-light the candles for the sad little girl who wanted to blow some out!! lol!!

After the morning tea was over the girls decided to entertain the neighbours out the front dancing and singing!! 

And had fun in the bathroom with Mia's makeup stash! I had some very glamorous girls on my hands if you can imagine!! 

All in all the girls spent over 24 hours together and I really must say I was very impressed with how they were together, no fights, maybe one squabble. But all so good!!! 

I love you Mia Moo!! My big girl!! But still my little girl too!! 

xxx