Summer!

Found it!

A delightful tale of a girl who discovers a photo of a baby and wonders who the baby in the hat is, only to discover that it is her - the clothing, decor etc all add to its charm :)

We are ready ...

They are waiting at the front door. His life will never be the same. Very exciting!

(note to self .. let go ... let go ... let go)

Playdough and Painting

After a hot hot hot week (Saturday reached 44 degrees Celsius here) - this drizzly day is a welcome relief - perfect for a quiet day at home before school starts - painting , playing with playdough and drinking blueberry smoothies!

Proven playdough recipe:

2 cups flour

4 tablespoons cream of tartar

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 cup salt

food colouring 2 cups water

Mix ingredients in a saucepan, and stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture sticks together. I keep mine in a glad sealed bag in the refrigerator - lasts for a very long time :)

Love this dress!

My brother David is getting married in April and it is a formal affair - I think a copy of this would be perfect!

Blue is my favourite colour, along with green. Now I just need to make the most of my gym membership ... and not look at this picture again once I have my own version!

Golden Book Reminiscing

I love Golden Books. I love the way they are easy to arrange on the bookshelf. I love their simple illustrations and simple stories. I treasure my collection of 1970s Golden Books. One of my earliest memories is of being pushed by mum in the stroller to Red S (now Woolworths) on Epping Road in North Ryde. My treat at the checkout would be a Golden Book.

Reminiscing this week about Thomas and wondering about where the time has gone made me think of a Golden Book called Where Has the Baby Gone? In my quick hunt today I couldn't find it. Milly had it at some stage so it is in the house (I hope!). But I did enjoy reading her The Poky Little Puppy and So Big.

For the lunchbox ...

I was (still am?) a Primary School Teacher. Before I had Thomas I taught for 7 years in both the public and private school systems. Year Five was my favourite, but Kindy was rather cute.

I am dreading Thomas starting even though I know he will love it. It is more for selfish reasons really. It is lovely that he is growing up but the years are going by so fast. We ditched the Bob the Builder / Thomas the Tank undies this week and bought a stack of Bonds stripe designs. I took him into a toilet and showed him how to lock the door (and open it). His shoes are velcro and I have been working on the pencil grip...

I am so glad that it is the Long Weekend as tomorrow I am going to spend some time in the kitchen with him whipping up these yummy apple and blueberry muffins from The Healthy Chef and pop some in the freezer.

Star Wars, Star Wars and More Star Wars ...

I knew before I married my husband that he was a fan of Star Wars. I was too young and too head over heels to object to having the theme song played as we entered the reception at our wedding ... so it should have come as no surprise that my 5.5 year old is a BIG fan. Although Milly, 3 could well be just as big - she hummed the theme as we drove to the Powerhouse Museum yesterday. She cried the other day as she didn't have a dress like Princess Leia. Thankfully her hair is long enough to put into buns. Santa bought her a lightsaber for Christmas so she could battle on equal ground...

The exhibition was good - Thomas' only disappointment was that George Lucas wasn't there.

Some of the highlights for him included riding a podracer (?) and having a photo with R2D2 and a stormtrooper. There was no Darth Vader, but we did see a Lego full size model at David Jones city store last year.

I have to admit that I enjoyed it, more because we escaped the 42 degree heat at home and because the kids had a fabulous time. I even got a little excited when I saw R2D2 zooming around the place with flashing lights and cute beeping ...

Thomas starts Kindergarten this week. I found this Millennium Falcon to make with him hopefully sometime before then. Very cool.

Change

Love the oufit, yes but there is much more to someone than the clothes they wear. I can't imagine what life must be like for the Obamas. Can you imagine being the wife to the President and a mum within the White House? I am looking forward to hearing more from this woman. She, like her husband have impressed and inspired me.

Back to the superficial ... I love his accent!

My library

The books in my home have been rearranged - again! They have been categorised according to author, topic, height, colour and now colour AND height :) I love this picture that I found on flickr.

My family are a little obsessed with books. I blame my obsession with the condition and treatment of books on genetics. My husband doesn't share the same view. It has taken a long time to cope with dog eared pages and books left open faced down, it is a battle that I don't think is worth the effort! Someone once told me very wisely to chose your battles - one of the best pieces of advice I have ever been given (thank you Keith!)

In Kindy I was very excited by the school library. I came home and rearranged the books on my Ikea Billy bookcase into alphabetical order. There were little borrowing cards where books read (by me) had to be signed in and out for!! as well as a bookmark to be left where a book was borrowed so it could be returned to its rightful place!!!

A friend commented on how she couldn't cope with my bookcase as it wasn't in height order so I rearranged it to see if this was better - it wasn't. The tidiness of a bookcase for me isn't an issue of finding a book, but it is amazing what a difference it makes to the look of a room.

I have been surprised since organising them by colour how I do have a vivid memory for the jacket colour of a book or the spine. It didn't help me find Henry and Amy this morning whilst it was being read on Playschool!

My next issue is what to do with the books with sleeves. Do I remove them or keep them. Some are starting to look tatty which bothers me. Books look so much better 'naked'.

Fabric Collection...

I am every fabric shop owners dream .... I rather like my collection ... it has its own box and I enjoy going through it. One day I will have time to make the quilts, cushions, wall hangings etc I dream of ...

At the moment I am loving Amy Butler fabrics. This one I have plans for as a cushion in the sunroom. Although my favourite mini collection is my Liberty of London squares - I enjoy sorting and looking at them. One day ... !!

By the way - I can't believe that the Summer holidays have been and almost gone. Crazy!

My Favourite Glasshouse Candle fragrance

Very excited as Glasshouse confirmed that they have stock remaining of The Night Before Christmas (Dancing Sugar Plums) so we have bought their last boxes - about 60 lucky people will be able to experience one (although for once, I will put one aside for me before this one sells out - I always get caught!). I LOVE this fragrance and hope that they re release it for Christmas 2009. Nicole Eckels at Glasshouse is one clever cookie.

I can't pinpoint what it is about the candle that evokes memories of my childhood but it takes me somewhere. Our noses have good memories - better than my brain at present - I will blame baby brain along with everything else I forget!

Wedding Anniversary

Today is Kirks and my 12th wedding anniversary! I was a very young bride - 20 but felt so grown up... just realised that all of our photos are yet to be scanned - must add that to the book of things to do ... 12 years!!!

Fairy Party

Happy New Year! 2009 suddenly seems to be well and truly underway. Milly turned 3 on Friday and life / work seems to be getting back to normal.

Millys birthday was spent at my sisters place on the Northern Beaches and on Saturday we had a family party here. Despite all guests being aged 12+ we celebrated Milly with a fairy party. It was such fun - there were pink and blue fairies everywhere! I bought the wings and wands from a $2 shop that was closing down. My mum is a gem - she made an AWW 'barbie' cake complete with wings made from a paper doily and fairy bread using an oversized butterfly cookie cutter and my lovely sister made fairy cakes.

For Walls removeable wall stickers came to my rescue for a wall banner and I dug out my dusty card making box for some floral paper to cut out for her name. I bought some sweet fairy fabric to make a table runner (rather a well-ironed table runner to disguise that I hadn't got the sewing machine out yet). The weather was perfect and the Alimrose floral bunting was a quick way to pretty up the deck overlooking the lawn and garden.

You can't be too old to enjoy bubble blowing or sparklers!

*Mother guilt - just saw the last post re teethbrushing - my five year old son ended up at the children's dentist at Castle Hill last week with 1.5 fillings needed. Tooth at back of mouth up top - juice is the only thing we can put it down to... and this mum not cleaning thoroughly enough....