day twenty-three.......

oooohhhhh, we're getting very close now

to the 'special day' and it's all go in this

neck of the woods......

my two lovely kids decided that their gifts

to family would all be edible/drinkable 

this year so they have had to wait

until 'the last minute' to get prepared

{well, not quite the last minute, but a bit

later than I would normally encourage them 

to be getting organised in their gift making efforts.....}

so here they are, in the kitchen, busy

making their gifts for the people they 

love......

no hints or clues as to what they have chosen

to make I'm afraid......

wouldn't want to spoil any surprises.....

day nine......

there's usually quite a bit of homemade

gift creating happening around these parts....

and this year is no exception....

* january *

ah, January..... 

it came in with snow, which was just so beautiful 

{especially as it sat heavily on our Christmas 

tree which was still sitting out on the deck}

  

 the old asylum looked magical......

and we were treated to some lovely warm,

comforting fires to keep our toes toasty and 

make our marshmallows squishy and squashy....

{just perfect for making smores.....}

Evie learned to play cribb at Christmas....

she was more than happy to be my teacher......

{I did lose the game though.... she's ruthless that girl......}

there was a bear's birthdays to celebrate.....

so of course cakes had to be baked

and decorated......

so that celebrations could be had......

I picked up a big bag of duplo from an op shop for the small
people in our family to enjoy......

and let's just say that toys for 'little people' never lose their appeal

 {even when my little people aren't so little anymore.....}

Evie added to her playmobil collection....

{this is another toy which is a favourite in our home and never loses its appeal......}

Brian and Evie spent a fun afternoon making a dinosaur

landscape diorama, which actually turned out really well....

and Isaac decided to use his typewriter to do his schoolwork on.....

i do so love the clickety clack of an old typewriter.......

and that was january here in our home.....

quiet, gentle and 'homey'..... just the way we like it......

more birthday celebrations.....

we all have our birthdays within a few weeks of each other in our house, 

so during the summer we hop, skip and jump from one celebration to the next,

which is truly lovely, and gives a very festive spirit to the summer holidays.....

even our wedding anniversary is right in the middle of all that celebrating..... 

might as well make the most of the festive atmosphere around the place....

Isaac is the last of the four of us to have his celebrations and 

his birthday really marks the end of our summer break.....

it's one last day to stay in jammies all day long.....

to choose all the food for the day.....

and to generally chill out.....

this year was a bit special though as Isaac turned 13.....

yes, teenagerdom has arrived in our house.....

he had a special request that we go out for dinner this

year and that we go to auntie dottie's for a family get together,

but other than that he just wanted to kick back and enjoy a

quiet day at home.....

there were special books to be poured over after all.....

and lego sets to be enjoyed.....

and games of an electronic variety to be tested out.....

our visit to dottie's house in Devon was glorious, as usual, and I did

actually manage to make a cake for this one.....

 {look at me all excited, complete with unbrushed hair!}

as instructed, it was a blue lego brick {not quite as dark a blue as we were

hoping for, but blue nonetheless} with a little lego scene perched precariously

on top which had been explained meticulously to me by Isaac as to how it

should appear on the cake.....

 

as always, I had grumped and groaned at my pathetic attempts at cake decorating

and, as always, my son gave me a huge smile and said it was fantastic....

love my teenager boy......

he's such a treasure.....

you've got to be in it, to win it.....

I'm having a little giveaway over on my crafty blog.......

it's my very first giveaway......

if you would like to enter, pop on over and say 'hello'.....

birthday boy......

Yikes, 11 years old..... how did that happen?

It seems one only has to blink or draw breath and the children age another year.....

He's officially called himself a 'tween' (I hate that label!)...

Here he is snuggled up in our bed at about 6am ready to open his pressies....


Lego was the pressie that got first dibs for construction..... you can never have too much Lego he informs me! Something from the Lego series 'Atlantis'.... that's as much as I know!!


A big box of KNex (thanks Dottie & Neil) was next to be 'constructed'..... it contained hundreds of bits like this......


and lots of other small, long, round, pointy, easily lost bits!!

He recruited Evie to be the 'finder of bits' as he called out what he needed during each phase of contruction......


Then, of course, we had to stop for morning tea...... chocolate caramel slice, as it's known here (or millionaires shortbread as I know it), was requested......


along with these funny straws that had little flavoured balls in them so that when you sucked milk up through them they flavoured the milk and, hey presto, you had an instant milk shake...... I am so glad that the kids only get one day per year when they get to choose all meals and treats for the day..... these CANNOT be good for you......


LOTS more construction (actually it took him pretty much the whole day to contruct this double roller coaster track...... but, oh boy, it was fun to watch the two roller coaster cars spin round that track complete with flashing lights!!)


Finally, instead of a 'normal' birthday cake, Isaac chose 'A Plate of Soil in Engine Oil' from the Roald Dahl cookbook Even More Revolting Recipes. I got this photo just before I put the cake in to bake but didn't manage to get one of the 'finished product' because the batteries in both our cameras decided to run out of juice!


We had such a lovely day together - we played games (in between all that construction), went out for afternoon tea to one of our fave cafes and snuggled down to watch a movie together in the evening.... lovely day, lovely memories.....

A weekend of play.....

A lovely friend, Joy, passed a HUGE box of Playmobil onto us last week and the kids have not stopped playing with it......

They are BIG Playmobil fans already (I may have mentioned this once or twice!! LOL.....)and many happy hours were spent over the weekend building and customising the 'scenes'....

In the box was....

::a supermarket::


here they are, filling the shelves with products......


::a sheriff's office::


and while the sheriff is busy looking out front, a dodgy looking fella is escaping out the back!!


::and a Police station::


they love, love, LOVED the safe with a proper combination lock and bar of gold inside!! You would've thought that Isaac had died and gone to heaven with the reaction this got!!


Today, Isaac decided to use a few pipes and pumps, link them up to a fire hydrant outside the front of the supermarket and pretend there was a fire happening inside....


there also had to be some 'baddies' hiding out on the top shelves, so the fireman squirted water at them too.....


Thanks so much Joy..... I can guarantee they ain't finished with it yet!

She's nine....... already!

well, rouse myself I did after the last blog post, and made all sorts of preparations for our next day of excitement - though at times I thought Evie might just die with the waiting!

After having been in bed on Wednesday night for about three hours, Evie appeared at the kitchen door and asked Brian and I, 'Isn't it morning yet?' I had to inform her that it wasn't even bedtime yet for the two of us and then I escorted her back to bed, whereupon she cried into her pillow, 'I hate sleeping, it's so boring'!

I met her again in the corridor at 1.30am and then finally allowed her into our bed for a birthday snuggle at 5.30am........

Celebrations had to start immediately of course.....

Presents and cake in bed (no eating of cake of course, just the exuberant singing of 'happy birthday to you' with candle blowing out and wishing at this point!!).....


don't you just love her hat? It's a real Aussie Barmah hat that she has had her eye on for quite some time. She was REALLY excited to get it and has worn it non stop since she opened it!

Buzz Lightyear was requested to be the 'man of the moment' for us this year..... (it was going to be Ron Weasly from Harry Potter but Buzz knocked him off top spot.....). Needless to say my 'themed-birthday-cake-decorating-skills' were mightily challenged with this one..... oh, how I long for a plain victoria sponge request!


As in previous years, the child whose birthday it is gets to choose all food for the day..... Evie chose to have fresh coconut milk for breakfast...... go figure!


Morning tea was iced doughnuts with sprinkles...... (see, the hat is still on!)


We did eventually manage to leave the house (with hat still in place) to go to the toy store so that Evie could spend all her birthday money on some Schliech animals to add to her collection - here the big cats are having a face-off.......


We fitted in a party lunch, some jigsaw puzzling, a game of 'Deal or No Deal', played with the big cats a bit more, ate more cake (sadly, Buzz's legs are no more!!) and finished it all off with a family movie night.....

I love making memories with my precious people.......

Let me introduce you......

to Betty......

She's my new best friend.....

And I love her......


She's fun, curvy, great to be with, and makes me feel....... happy!

What more could I ask for in a friend?

Comfy.... (look at those springs under that WIDE saddle.... just great for my big bottom!!)


Curvaceous .... (cruiser style.....), even has her own little bell.....


She is stylish..... white wall tyres, love 'em, and no gears..... she's a simple girl..... like me.....



Been out to town with her already and she was great company....

Mother's Day.....

Today is that wonderful day when I get to enjoy not doing anything at all unless I choose to do it!

I've been spoilt with lovely gifts.....

Evie gave me this brooch which she made a couple of weeks ago at her embroiderers guild meeting....... precious.....


I had a yummy muffin and a smoothie for breakfast......

then there were chocolates, cards, fabric, buttons, threads, a bookmark...... oh, the list goes on!

And now, while I type, the peeps and Brian are cooking dinner..... and it smells scrummy....!

p.s. it was scummy.... fresh salmon & roasted veggies...... heaven!

Gifts from afar......

We have friends from the UK visiting us at the moment and we have been having a fabby time.

And look what they brought for us


now that's what I call a jar of Marmite!! Half a kilo of the stuff......

YUM!

A sign of the times......

When Dot visited recently she brought with her a plethora of gifts..... like Christmas all over again! I still have a little stash of the edible gifts.... I'm working my way VERY SLOWLY through the yumminess......

However, one of the surprises she brought for me was a pair of electric blue boot/slippers.

OOOOOOHhh!

Well, I have to say the time has come to break them in..... the weather has become quite cool in the mornings and evenings and I definitely need something more substantial than the little summer slip-ons I was wearing.

So I thought I would share them with you, just so you can celebrate their loveliness along with me and appreciate just how toasty, oasty, oasty they are keeping my tootsies!


Loving the pom poms on the back there!


Snug, snug, snug is all I can say.....

Lego........ like we need any more.....

We gave the kids a 'new to us' Harry Potter Lego set today......

It was VERY well received......


We had full recall of the dialogue from the film whilst re-enactment happened with the characters.......


Here is Ron Weasley caught in the ...... trap (look, I have no idea what the proper name for these things is ..... that's the kids' department!!)


I forsee many happy hours of Potter-ing........