a christmas trip to the city

erica and elijah

on the santa train, starting to get suspicious that santa may be nearby...

waiting to see Santa

A day without the car recently presented the perfect opportunity to hop the train to the city for a christmas excursion!
My gorgeous friend Erica (or 'Erica-ra' as Arkie calls her!) met us on the train with her kids and they all had a ball.
After years of taking Aski to see Santa against his will, this year he bowled right up, gave Santa a high-five and had a good old chat. Arkie not so keen, clung to me like a frightened possum!
loads of fun on the Santa train at Myer
hot chocolates
lollipops
angel wings
toys
A great morning had by all, slightly frazzled and tired Mums...

festivus...over for another year

Last saturday was one of our favourite nights of the year - festivus!
as per usual, a wonderful night of catching up with dear friends
eating too much ham
scoffing way too many scorched almonds
cutting up mountains of stone fruit for dessert
many laughs
a reminder of how very blessed we are to have such amazing friends.
thanks to the lovely jen for the beautiful photo of my meringue mushroom table decorations, really must remember to get a photo of everyone together next year.

best birthday present ever

Cal gave me the best birthday present EVER last week! Meet my new single-speed city bike that Cal built from scratch for me, and I mean from scratch!
Bought dodgy black and slightly rusty frame from Bicycle Revolution, stripped it back to bare metal and repainted it this gorgeous blue, bought some parts, used others we had lying around...
Note Cal's amazing attention to detail in the white tyres with matching white brake cable - very impressive.
Yet to get cranks on board to house my fabulous red pedals from Sally and Jason for my birthday also (to match red handle bar grips).
Very excited about my new single-speed bike, seriously the best present ever.
(For those wondering - this is what's referred to as a city bike or shop bike for riding to shops and cafes, I won't be using this for my more serious road rides! The very cool bike to have at the moment).

last days of kindy

There were tears, many tears, on Aski's last day of kindy recently - all mine and his teacher's, not his!
We've had two wonderful years at Bardon Community Kindy and I'm very sad to be going.
Aski has been blessed with the most fabulous of teachers, Bek (the younger dark haired one above) and Dianne (blond teacher aide above).
It feels like only yesterday that he set off on his first day (see bottom photo above) so little and excited.
We're definitely ready for Prep next year - thanks largely to the amazing Bek.
I'm sure Aski will stay great mates with his two favourites from kindy - Darcy and Archie above.

festive days are here

Christmas is here, the smell and feel of summer is undeniable, I love it!
The tree is up...arkie insisted on being in charge and was (suprisingly!!) gentle and careful about what went where on the tree. Very cute.
My wonderful friend Sally is into the whole festive thing as much as me (in fact even a little more I would say!) and we recently took on the task of baking our own fruit mince tarts.
After working through three different recipes, we think we've hit on the best...
Sally being a very professional blogger (as opposed to my dodgy efforts here) has posted our winning recipes on her fabulous blog: http://www.studio60.com.au/blog/2010/12/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas/
Merry Christmas to all.
Enjoy!

a nod to healthier days

Bit of a day of sickness in our house today with Aski down and me fighting something off... here's a nod to healthier happier days...

An old video from a camping trip to Lennox heads that I just came across. How can you say no to that little face at the end? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtbdInh8tes

BMXing in the sunshine

A Saturday afternoon spent with the cousins at the BMX park...
Get better!!??
Arkie, as always, in amongst it with the bigger kids.
11 seconds of potential bike riding brilliance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF-N2pTLfi4
Aski took the two middle shots so they had to make it in.

the joy creativity brings

I'm constantly surprised by the amount of joy that comes with creating something.
A bit of a lull in work has allowed me to indulge in a little creating of late.
Oh the joy and fulfillment!
My latest design for Arkie: the 'Holly Hobby' dress.
She's obviously quite happy with the finished result.

what else?

The kiddies have new bedrooms!
Cal took on Aski's and built the most amazing bed ever.
Loft bed with built in shelving and stairs.
Aski absolutely loves it and treats it more like the cubby house that it is!
I had a bit of creative fun with a bit of cheery yellow in Arkie's.

the biggest backpack ever

Another long pause in between posts due to camera issues - apologies!
What has happened since my last post?
Lots...
We got into Rainworth State School for Prep 2010.
Major cause for celebrations.
Aski very excited about uniform and school backpack.
Backpack so big that Arkie fits in it!

lovely lorne

a holiday highlight for me was discovering Lorne on the Great Ocean Rd...
we sped down there one of the mornings that we were in Geelong
what a stunning place!
found a fabulous cafe called 'the bottle of milk'
coffees, bacon & egg burgers, a play at the park and a quick walk on the beach...
we're planning our next holiday at Lorne.

a day at the zoo

a holiday highlight for the kids was a day at melbourne zoo
we met my sister and her kiddlies jonah, daisy and micah
mum was also there which was a great bonus!
katie and millie came too so the kids had a ball all together.
what better day could they imagine than a day at the zoo with family and friends?

melbourne coffee

much of our time in melbourne was spent indulging in superb coffee.
degraves espresso in the city is a favourite
discovered a new favourite in seven seeds cafe in carlton
many good coffees in between...

one of our favourite places....mmm melbourne

the first day of our melbourne holiday....
caught the tram in to the city from fitzroy (aski's favourite part of the day)
met our friend katie with her little girl millie for nutella crepes (arkie's favourite...)
tiny bit of shopping
lots of good coffee
love melbourne....

rain = no parks, but creek exploring

No park playing in this first week of the kindy holidays thanks to the rain so we thought we'd make the most of the rain and do some creek exploring...So the other day the kids donned their gumboots and spent the afternoon exploring the creeks at the bottom of Mt Coot-tha. It's quite a novelty to them to have creeks full of water as it hasn't happened much during the last few years. Of course Aski wasted no time in finding something bigger than him to drag around. They were thoroughly soaked and filthy by then end but very very happy.

rainy day tea party

Hmmm rainy days and kindy holidays... they don't really mix well! This afternoon we decided to make our own at-home fun and 'built' a cubby house to host our own tea party. Aski had a ball, Arkie had just woken up so was a little grumpy. A few lime patty cakes and mini cups of tea later all was well and everyone was happy. Now for an idea for another rainy day tomorrow??

nutty little kid...

Arkie's choice of comfortable television viewing this morning (complete with two of her dolls stuffed in there with her!).

garden antics

Last weekend we have a 'love your garden' day and it was a full family occasion. The kids always love being part of gardening and fully immersed themselves this time. We bought a new tipping garden cart which Askin immediately adopted as his own and we practically had to wrestle him to make use of it at all. After we had dumped all our little piles of top soil ready to be spread out over the grass, Cal got a crazy idea in his head....Why not attach the garden cart to the Vespa and tow the kids around the backyard?? Here's a link to youtube to see the results....they had a ball!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o-vaR5yO2c

campfire dinner

The map with all the clues

Aski studies his next clue...

Cal and his cooking helpers

Two very excited kiddlies watch from a safe distance

We're constantly looking for ways to make dinner more exciting for our two little ones...tonight was a campfire dinner in the backyard. Cal built up a little campfire and snaffled our Webber hotplate to cook the food, the kids were beside themselves with excitement. Next time we'll up the ante and bring on the toasted marshmallows and 'golden boys' to top it off. Last week we did a treasure hunt dinner (one of the best memories of my childhood!) which Aski particularly loved. The treasure map gave clues to the location of each course of dinner starting off with pizza on the trampoline and Freddo Frogs and gingerbread biscuits for dessert hidden in the lounge. I think both dinners will become oft-requested dinner options.

love and cuddles

I've just found myself in tears for the second time in two days after reading or watching something about the strength of a family's love in times of tragedy. It made me want to post this cuddly shot of my two treasures and take a moment in amongst the good times to celebrate how blessed we are to have each other. I'm so thankful to have my two crazy but gorgeous children and the most amazing husband in the entire universe.