All Things Mum

This year I decided to tackle a few cookies. I had made a shortbread version and we ate them all. This chocolate one was featured in the Coles Christmas cooking brochure and it looked very good and I had most of the ingredients on hand. Even hubby got into the action and was helping to cut out shapes. They came out rather nice but not as chocolatey as I would have liked. I will have to track down a better recipe next year. I did like that it was a white chocolate icing too. Some nights I get to sit at my sewing table while they're all asleep and I fiddle around. I decided to iron up the hem and do some hand-sewing (which I dislike). But that meant that this Oliver + S blouse got made-up and finished in time for Christmas mass. It's really cute but man, there's a lot of buttons at the back. I would have prefered a zipped version. The children got into the decorations and the tree is a mess but what-evs. Here is the littlest adorning decorations fash...

This year I wanted to go on a Christmas House Lights trip. Hubby wasn't really interested but caved in and drove us around after I got the older two ready. The young ones were asleep hence the scruffiness. Anyhoo.... I picked a few addresses from our local paper and went to this amazing house who won the competition. It was awesome. So many lights, so many things to seeeeeeee. You know even a well dressed house will amaze children and adults alike. The kids adored it. The main house even had their own Santa and he took a few pics with the kids. I think I even like these ones better than the one we took at the mall. Elijah isn't even crying. What a good baby. They had three windows dressed up like this. It was so cool. There were houses with lights lit up inside and little moving ornaments. Like.Wow. We moved onto a nearby street (how I love you gps) and saw a few more houses before the kids were sleepy and yeah, I was too. Can you tell i am into the Spirit ...

Each Monday I get to go shopping and leave a few little ones with daddy. It's nice to have that time to grocery shop but it still takes a few hours with some browsing of my own inbetween. It's nice to have a bit of one on one time with Miss 5 as she's usually tagging along. She even packed the grocery bags into the trolley at Woolworths for me which impressed the checkout chick and mother next to me. Start them young I say and you'll have them doing these things for you for a while. So I normally take a list with me and sometimes the list is still on the fridge. I told hubby I needed some bibs for baby and he said "Why don't you make them?" I did try before when I had my first son but they didn't turn out nice. I did try to find the right set at the shops because I like to have a plastic backing and for them to be a good size. This boy drools like a fountain. There were none that were suitable and within a decent price range. So last ...

Well the tree and the lights across the back wall are up so we're just about ready for the Season. Two yeara ago I put up the lights by walking barefoot and pregnant on the t.v unit! Crazy huh. This year I put it all up and the lights didn't work. Wth? Back to Kmart for new set of icicle lights and back up on the unit again. We got a new star as well. This year I left the teachers' presents as last minute. I had some spare wine bottles from a wedding in the cupboard and Little Miss going to Kindergarten Next Year made up these ThankYou cards with my help. I stuck a little ribbon in the back to 'hang' the card on the wine bottle. Genius, I know ; ) There's also a big box of Cadbury Favourites in the pack too. The cards have a cute little poem about teachers in it and I'm sure her teachers will adore it. The littliest turned 6months old yesterday. Wow, how.time.flies!!!! He thinks sleeping through isn't his cup of tea so I am yet...

  I really enjoy the Christmas season. We took the annual Santa pic and it turned out smaller than the past few years so we were disappointed. The older kids put on a fake smile and the other little ones didn't even smile. I opted for the cheapest set we could buy and perhaps would have liked to be more picky about taking a better picture. They're not really helpful at those photo places. At least it was like having a family photo and we can update our wallet pics again. I put this smaller one in my new diary, which I got from K-mart again this year for a budget price of $4. I'm pretty sure my kids can't read my blog so I will go ahead and tell you that we've splurged on them this Christmas. I didn't want to get them any old toy that they'll play with for a day and then have it left on the floor for me to stumble over. I wanted them to have something which would lean to the educational side so I decided we would get them a LeapFrog LeapPad Explore...

My almost 4yr old son hardly has any shorts to sleep in so it was about time I get off my butt and make him a pair. I tell you if I didn't know how easy and fast it would be I'd have started these a few years ago! I don't actually have any pyjama patterns I liked so I used a shorts/pants pattern from the Japanese book that I have. I have no idea what the name of it is though. I just know I have not made anything from it yet, until now. It is pattern number 44. I found this beautiful knit fabric at Spotlight. It is called Toybox and perfectly soft and not too thin. You know how it is, when you make something out of knit and the fabric seems to be way too light. This is not the case. It's beautiful to work with. I cut out the largest size from the book which is 100cms. The boy is about 102cms so I was hoping it wouldn't be too small. It turned out perfectly. I used my overlocker to do all the seams and I used my new stretch twin needle to hem up the bottom legs ...

Well Spring has made a late entrance around these parts of Sydney. This weather has been crazy I tell you. It's been cold, rainy and sunny all in one day! We have been feeling the heat so much so today that I really wanted to make this wrap dress that I've been talking about forever. I've used the pattern before for my maternity top. It's not finished yet. I have only put the bodice together and skirt. I wanted to see if I could make a simple dress, omitting the top panel. I don't think it's working out.  The bodice JUST fits. I'm holding it together in the pic above. After some reading the fabric you're meant to use is anything stretchy like knits. However, I had this lovely synthetic thing I picked up when Spotlight had their 30% off storewide. I think it really suits me and drapes over my bumpy pokey bits. It's rather low cut too, lucky I am wearing a singlet underneath. I am suppose to put facings on the edges rather than folding the...

I have this friend whom I met from Playgroup. She's awesome and we are similar in our tastes and dilemmas. She comes over and we have fun playdates with her two girls. Turns out she likes sewing too so yesterday I showed her my stash of patterns and got her into Japanese Pattern books. This sounds like trouble... he he. She also inspired me to take some time out and sew. So I did. The babies slept and I sewed, and sewed. There were no bathroom or food breaks. I just sewed until one of them woke up. I felt really good. More inspired. I wished I could have kept going.   I am excited. These are parts of the Oliver + S Puppet Show Blouse. I've had them cut up for a while now. I've been cooking too, from Apples for Jam. We made Tessa's Banana Bread and we gobbled it up. There are no pics to show. I tried the Lentil and Sausages but the kids only liked the chicken sausages. We might try some cookies as we start gearing up for Christmas. Ahhh, it will be just around ...

One of my favourite go to blogs is Cakies by Ruby Ellen Bratcher. She inspired me with her homeschooling, talent and living life through the lesson of the Lord. Amen to that. She also has 4 beautiful children and a doting husband. She made me want to buy those Saltwater shoes her girls wear so much that I scoured the net and ordered some from Ten Tall Trees. However, our dollar was going down by that time so I lost a few bucks in the deal. Good news for you though that our dollar is above parity right now so you can grab yourself a great pair of shoes!!! Fast forward two weeks (ish) later and they arrived! I got the girls to try them on and they are actually the perfect size. I was going to buy their size 6 and 10 respectively but decided to go a size up (thinking they're larger in size). My girls wear those UK sizes so I bought the 7 and 11. White (leather) Saltwater Sweet Hearts. Pink Fuchsia (leather) Saltwaters Spot the baby. My...

As a mother of young girls I am always in need of hair accessories.My 5yr old has long hair and my 2yr old has curly hair that requires taming. Lots of taming. Otherwise there will be clunks of food dried up in their tresses if I fail to tie their hair back. So last week I went to K-mart and went to buy a few clips for them. She instantly picked out the Hair Square flower clips.   However, when I opened them at home, to my dismay, there was one missing blue flower clip. I was very much disappointed as I like to get what I pay for and I count all my pennies. So, what's a girl to but write a letter. I actually wrote a quick e-mail and presto, they responded pretty quickly. Of course they apologised and would replace the packet. In the mail the next day I recieved my replacement box along with some other goodies to try. How awesome is that?!! ! I was so happy. Now that's fantastic customer service.     Here is my 5yr old wearing the ...

In my mind I had grand plans for decorating his Christening. However, let's just say not even a fraction came to fruition as I left things majorly last minute. At least the pom poms came together the night before. I also made a 3m bunting but should have made heaps more for our shelter.  One of them now hangs in the kids room along with the light lanterns. I wasn't able to decorate the night before because hubby wanted to wash down the walls the morning of the party. THE MORNING for goodness sake. And where was I come morning, well prepping my pretty self of course. Along with curling the 5yr olds hair (which I've never done before). I am glad to say that the Christening went well and the party was nice. I was run of my feet though and it was not as organised as I'd liked it to be. Still there is a lot to say of extremely helpful family members and those who are not so much. You know the kind. You have them your ranks too, yes? Here's my happy bunch clean...

This little cherub turned 4 months young today. He's a fussy little thing but I love kissing him to bits. Life has been really hectic since his arrival. There are days when I truly feel I cannot do a single thing and other days when a bit is done and the world is alright. This 5 year old requested earrings so I obliged. I was more nervous than she was. I forked out the cash to have them both done at the same time. One skinny guy and one medium sized guy were at both sides of her. Both looked a bit scary as they had tattoo's down their arms and a collection of piercings in their ears. I suppose it is the sign of a true professional in his field, yes? I always tell myself not to judge others. I could have done them at the GP which would bring the cost down by half but I wanted it both ears done together as I was scared she'd freak out. Just as they were getting ready she looked a bit worried and told me she didn't want them anymore. Too late for that. I told her it woul...