Where have you been all my life?!

Yesterday i went & i got myself a new little piece of technology........an iphone 4S. Oh my goodness, i love, love, love it! My last phone had well & truly had it, i got it when Amity was a baby, so it was six years old & in mobile phone years that's vintage!  The thing is, i'm a little scared of anything new & i knew how to use my phone so well, i didn't want to learn on a different one - but too be honest i was getting a tad embarrassed taking it out of my bag to answer a call, lol! So i finally bit the bullet & went & got myself an iphone. It is surprisingly easy to use & i'm loving the fact that i no longer need to cart around a camera, notepad, street directory, calculator, compass (?!)...............i'm a bit behind the times aren't i? I'm also loving the apps - favourites so far: instagram, facebook & doodle find & the kids have already added a few too. So what apps does anyone recommend? I'd love to know what your favourites are. Here is an Instagram photo for you, my littlest snuggle bum, straight out of the bath & ready for nigh nigh .

What i am doing...........in January.

A new year is here & oh my, these days are the best days of the whole year. The days i long for on cold winter mornings...............the hot weather, no school......just lazy, lazy summer days by the pool.
: : listening The very best of  Fleetwood Mac  - we know all the words now ;-)
: : cooking  pancakes this morning for our traditional sunday brekkie before i went to work
: : drinking west coast coolers, my summer beverage of choice. just call me 'bogan'
: : reading  Frankie Spaces - finally got my mitts on a copy.
: : watching Cloudstreet, the best novel to screen adaptation i have ever seen. Love it.
: : wanting  a little more time to get stuck into crochet school
: : pondering whether to get a new camera or just get the broken one fixed?
: : sewing nothing yet, but planning on making some pretty summery pj's for Scarlett.
: : wishing my hair wasn't so frizzy
: : enjoying the school holidays & lack of routine
: : waiting for our tomatoes to ripen......can't wait to pig out on some bruschetta. mmmm.
: : looking  forward to lots of summer arvos with the neighbours bbq-ing & swimming
: : liking the fact that we all just won an ipod shuffle each at work in an instore comp!
: : wondering is it possible to o.d on stone fruits?
: : loving these cruisey summer days. Need i say anymore?
: : hoping for a little op-shop road trip soon. i'm back in the mood for it.
: : believing i'm in need for a weekend off work.
: : wearing lots & lots of maxi dresses lately
: : considering a train trip to the big smoke this week with the two big kids
: :  knowing  your blog is going to be awesome Kristy ;-) can't wait!
: :  noticing vintage caravans are everywhere lately & i love them!
: :  thinking i'm going to just bite the bullet & get with the times & get an iphone.
: :  needing to make some space in my wardrobe, working in a clothing store does have it's downfall's sometimes!
: :  giggling everytime i think about when we chased one of our chooks  around the backyard because it  had  a dummy in it's mouth beak........i have another little giggle fit!
: : organizing some summer holiday activities for the kiddos
: : trying to get the ironing under control in this household - it's just not happening.
: : feeling sun kissed :-)

And so it seems this is my 100th post! Thanks to you all lovelies who have stuck around with me & left much appreciated comments, i have enjoyed sharing bits & pieces of my little life with you. x

And here is a little teaser of something special i'll be sharing with you in an up-coming post......

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

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 

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!

Source: blogdelanine.blogspot.com via Malea on Pinterest

 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.

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.

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Malea on Pinterest

Source: mycakies.blogspot.com via Malea on Pinterest

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Malea on Pinterest

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

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.