.RAIN. If you can't beat it...join it.

Saturday 29th August 2009.

Rain, rain and more rain.

Stuck inside.

1 milk bottle = 2 boats made with stickers, blu tack, skewers, paper and help from Dad.

Hats, jackets and boots on.

Take boats outside and float down the gutter over and over again.

Get very wet.

Had fun.

.If you feel like buying me a present... .

I would love to wear this t-shirt!

Custom Printable Siblings Stationary

This would look great in my sewing room.

Cute, customised stamps

Do you think I could pull this off?

I really need a new pincushion...

.Bring on Spring!.

While the North of the country is delighting in warm, sunny days...we are experiencing rain, rain, rain, wind, wind, wind, cold, cold, cold.

The kind of weather that I LOVE when I am home alone with the heater turned right up - but not so much fun when you have three little ones in tow. They are really feeling housebound. Our backyard is a sludge of swampy grass. I couldn't send them out there even if I wanted to. I think they would drown!!

Our heater has broken and we like a hot house! Should only be another day or two until it is fixed but for now we are trying to heat the lounge room with a little oil column heater...its taking the chill away but isn't toasty at all.

So, this is what we have been doing to get through the yucko weather...

1. Lil is being dressed in SHORTS worn OVER tights. We are trying to summon some warmer weather in any way we can. Hopefully the appearance of summer clothing will hurry things along! (If not, she is looking mighty cute anyway!!)2. Yesterday I took the kids to the movies. Oscar has only been once, and Lil never. Thought it might be nice to do something different to break up the week. Have you seen Up? So very cool and funny! Cade came with us, I think we enjoyed it more than the kids! I figured going at 10:30am during the week would provide us with an empty cinema as school was on and who goes to the movies at 10:30am anyway?! I was right, we shared the cinema with a grandma and her two young grandchildren. Lil was really good anyway, I think she was scared by the size of the screen and loud noise and didn't move anywhere!! 3. Oscar has started to show an interest in playing on the computer. He gets to have a turn most days when Lil is having her nap during the day. I want his time on here to be educational though, Carli referred me to this website. It is great, totally directed at teaching children how to read. A lot of it is a bit over Oscar's head, but he gets the gist of what to do and I figure if he keeps it up he will begin to recognise a few words by sight and hopefully when he goes to school will make the connection with the things he has been learning on the computer. The other good thing about the site is that there is HEAPS to do, so he doesn't get bored or "good at" the same few activities. Anyone else have any good children's websites to share?

.Recipe Monday.

A yummy recipe for a good, old-fashioned beef casserole...

Slowcooker Beef and Vegie Casserole
500g gravy beef, cubed
frozen peas
carrots, peeled and cubed
potatoes, peeled and cubed
onion, peeled and cubed
garlic
mixed herbs
1/4-1/2 cup gravy powder
1 tin crushed tomatoes
1/4-1/2 cup water

Place all ingredients in slowcooker, stir. Cover and cook for 6-7 hours.

.Dear Maya.

Dear Maya Elizabeth

Thankyou for the lovely puzzles you sent Oscar and Uncle Jaron in the mail. They really love them and are doing the hardest one right now.

You are very good at drawing pictures then cutting them up into little pieces to make puzzles. You should make some more.

Uncle Jaron says the puzzle is really, really hard. He has been trying to put it together for about 1 hour so far. He heard rumour that your Dad said $500 was up for grabs if it could be put together. Uncle Jaron really wants $500. That is why he is doing your puzzle on a Friday night.

Love Aunty Toni

P.S. Oscar said could you tell Mason thankyou for the AWESOME dragon pictures? Mason is very good at drawing too.

.A Date.

Yesterday I had a hot date with my sewing machine!

When Mum offered to look after the kids for the day, I jumped at the chance to get some needed sewing done. It was great. I dropped them off at 9:30am, went back at lunch time to feed Tommy and bring Lil home for a sleep, then picked them up at 3pm.

Unfortunately "secret sewing" means that I can't show you more than a sneek peek...
There, that was fun, wasn't it!!

Get used to it because the rest of the year is going to be packed full of sewing in secret!

Thanks for keeping the riff-raff in under control yesterday Mum, I feel very rejuvenated!

.Tiny Tommy.

It seems everywhere we go, the first thing people say about Tommy is, "he's so tiny!" - and he is!
He was small when he was born and even though I thought my ultrasound dates said was 5 days overdue, the midwives who looked after us in the hospital and at home all made the comment that they thought my dates were wrong and that he seemed premature.

Check out how he is measuring on the graphs. The middle line indicates the "average" measurement for babies of that particular age...

This is his head circumference, he started out on the bottom line (meaning that 97% of babies are bigger than him) but is now measuring under - no wonder he was so easy to push out!!And his weight and length. They are in proportion to each other, so nothing to worry about. As long as he continues to gain then he is doing fine. He goes for another check up this Thursday so it will be interesting to see how much he has grown as these assessments were from 2 weeks ago.
Reporting back on dairy-free...

I was SO good and stuck to it for 2 whole weeks. I definitely noticed a huge difference after about 4 days. He was sleeping for longer periods of time during the day and a lot more settled in general. Then we had family come and visit so I thought I would have a break and eat what ever and see if it made him bad again. He was okay, but was also getting lots of cuddles and there was a lot going on to distract me so it probably wasn't the best time to experiment!!
Tommy has been unpredictable since then, has good and bad days - that's just typical of a baby though! He seems to have trouble passing wind and I think that is the cause of broken sleep during the day. Whether that is dairy related or not, I don't know? Hopefully it is something he will just grow out of because it will be so nice when he starts having longer sleeps again!
Today was one of those "15-minute naps" days. Such a pain, especially because he is tired and I can tell he wants to sleep for longer but just ends up being grumpy all day instead! I gave in at 3pm and ended up putting him in the Ergobaby (thanks for the lend Suzanne, I love it!) where he finally drifted into a peaceful slumber and I could clean up and cook dinner in peace!

.Blossom Giveaway Winner.

The winner has been drawn for the Blossom pattern giveway...

Congratulations to Mummy-Chelle!

mummy_chelle said...

Wow that is one CUTE skirt! And the little models are gorgeous. I would be honoured to win.

12 August 2009 7:55 PM

Can you email me with your postal address and I will send off your pattern right away!

Thanks to everyone who entered and for your lovely comments, I really appreciate it :)

.Recipe Monday.

This is one of our favourite, quick dinners...very tasty and received well by the whole family too!

Chicken BLT
I loaf sourdough bread, thickly sliced
chicken breast (I use 1/2 a breast per person)
cheese
tomato
bacon
lettuce
mayonnaise

Split chicken breasts in half through the middle to make two thin breasts.
Cook chicken on a grill or in a frying pan until cooked through.
Cook bacon.
Slice tomato and cheese.
Arrange chicken, bacon, cheese, tomato, lettuce and mayo on lightly toasted sourdough bread.
EAT!

.New Pattern: BLOSSOM.

Are you ready for a new Make It Perfect pattern?
(Giveaway at the end of this post...GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED - thankyou!)

A little girl can't have enough skirts, especially of the TWIRLY variety....

Every little girl needs at least one twirly skirt in her life. Blossom will be sure to please even the most avid twirler our there!!

Featuring lots of ruffles, frills and ric rac trim, Blossom is the ultimate in twirly, whirly fun!
Whip up a matching owl applique shirt and simple handbag with fun plaited handle for a complete outfit!

This skirt is so cute...especially on those cute trampoline-jumping legs!

What little girl wouldn't love a fun, twirly skirt wit lots of pretty ruffles? And what fabric-loving Mum/Grandma/Aunt/friend wouldn't love to choose five delicious fabrics to make it for her?!!
Blossom comes with complete instructions and pattern pieces to make a twirly skirt, applique owl top and trendy bag complete with owl applique and a funky plaited handle (a great way to use up fabric scraps left over from the project!)
So, if you are looking for another smashing sewing project for your little girl, then look no further! Head over to the Make It Perfect website to see more photos and check out the fabric requirements for Blossom.
If you have a store and want to stock this or any other Make It Perfect patterns, contact Creative Abundance to place an order.

If you would like to purchase a copy of Blossom for yourself, they should be popping up in retail stores very soon. Ask your favourite store to get one in for you!
A big thankyou (once again) to the brilliant photography of Chelsea Parsons and our super sweet models, Hallie and Lil!

Would you like to win a copy of Blossom? Well, we better have a giveaway!
To be in the draw, leave a comment on this post. For a bonus entry, post about this giveaway on your blog, then come back and leave another comment letting me know that you have blogged about it!

(Giveaway will close Monday 17th August and winner will be drawn via a random number generator.)

.Recipe Monday.

For thick and fluffy pancakes next weekend, try this recipe...

Buttermilk Pancakes
2 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
600ml buttermilk (you can buy this...I make my own by adding 1Tbs vinegar to 1 cup milk)
50g butter, melted

Sift flour and sugar into large bowl.
Whisk eggs, buttermilk and melted butter in medium bowl.
Gradually whisk egg mixture into flour mixture. Whisk until mixture makes a smooth batter. Transfer batter to a large jug.
Cover, refrigerate batter for 30 minutes.
Lightly spray large heavy-based frying pan with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup batter into heated pan for each pancake.
Cook pancakes, uncovered, until bubbles appear on surface. Turn with a spatula to lightly brown other side.

.Clearing the block.

What do you do when you have lots of family members come to visit?

Put them to work of course!!

Our block was covered with lots of little trees and bushes. We could have paid over $1000 to get someone in to clear it for us, or save money and do it ourselves. (By "ourselves" I mean Jaron, not me! Someone has to mind the kids!!)

Jaron spent two Saturdays in a row with a chainsaw cutting everything down, then last Friday we summoned up a team of men to load trailers and take the trees to the tip. It took them ALL day, was a really big job and saved us a lot of time.
And here is it...all cleared and ready to start building on as soon as our plans are approved by council. Thanks guys!! You saved us a heap of time and money :)

.Tommy's Blessing.

Sunday was a special day for our family. Jaron gave Tommy a beautiful blessing and we were lucky enough to have lots of extended family travel to be with us.

Jaron's parents and three of his siblings came over from New Zealand on Thursday night and stayed with us until this morning. My sister, Filipa and her husband Chris are down from Sydney for a few more days. This is the first time for all of them to meet Tommy and he has been thoroughly spoiled with constant cuddles. Oscar and Lil have had the best 5 days, with someone new to play with all the time and lots of outings they were absolutely exhausted today. Oscar asked me this morning if we could just have a "home day" today! So, home day it was! Catching up on lots of house work and washing while the kids made forts and slides out of blankets and mattresses in the spare room!

I don't think I have written about where Tommy's name came from. My Dad (on the right) is named Tyrone, has always been called Tom and his kids call him Tommy. Jaron's Dad's (on the left) middle name is Ross. So our Tommy Ross is named after his two Grandfathers. Lucky little dude.
And here we are trying to get a family photo. I swear, I will pay a lot of money to the person who manages to take a decent snap of us all together one day. My children are NOT good at posing for the camera when WE want them to! I guess this is really us and they will be happy to look back at a lot of crazy family photos in the future!

.2 today.

The little miss of the house turned 2 today.

We have been busy with family for the last 4 days so she was very lucky to have visitors from New Zealand and Sydney with her to celebrate the big occasion!

And lots of devoted fans to laugh at all of her crazy antics.

We love you precious girl...the laughter and tears you bring into our family
...the cute as piggy tails
...the cheeky little smile
...the love of beautiful skirts and dresses - your pretties
...the obsession with your dummy
...the obsession with lollies
...the crazy tantrums
...the bossiness
...the constant "read it"
...the cuddles and kisses
xxx