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...