playing in the trees

One of my favourite things about parks in Brisbane is the beautiful Moreton Bay Figs that have the most incredible root structure and are almost a little park within a park! The kids love climbing and exploring them.

the milky way

A recent request during dinner from Aski led to a post-dinner dash up to Mt Coot-tha, kids resplendent in pj's, to see if we could find the Milky Way in a city sky! Once we got up there, the kids were both so excited to be out and about in their pj's for an adventure that they forgot all about the Milky Way.

book reading in the sun

We can't get enough of these blue skies and absolutely perfect temperatures...another day spent basking in the sun....
Just Arkie Parks and me
New Farm Park
A stack of books to read together
Some coffee and snacks
Lovely.

Arkie took all these pictures herself (except the one of her of course), quite the little budding photographer.

on a clear day

On a clear day...on a sunday afternoon, one must be outside!
And so it was that we ended up at Mt Coot-tha for a spontaneous BBQ last weekend.
Blue blue skies
Crisp air
Wood-fired BBQ
Collecting sticks for firewood
Sizzling sausages
Mmmmm

(no arkie as she was fast asleep in the car right beside our picnic!)

pumpenickel goes public

So I finally did it! After much encouragement from friends and family I finally decided to take the risk and sell my 'pumpenickel' kids clothes at a boutique market with my lovely friend Megan earlier this year. Long story short, it was a lot of hard work but lots of fun and great to see my clothes sell. It also motivated me to finally set up an Etsy store which I'm determined to get stuck into in the next little while. I'm currently trying to figure out how to host an Etsy Mini on this blog so stay tuned... A big thanks to the talented Mr Starr from Studio 60 http://www.studio60.com.au for my lovely photos.

family time

Goodness, what is up with me this year!? I have been very slack with my posts for a variety of reasons but I'm determined to get back on track....Here's a belated post with some family snaps from our niece Heidi's dedication. A beautifully styled afternoon of pink, lollies, cupcakes, chocolate crackles, and all things pretty. Thanks Liss for awakening my long-lost love of musk sticks!!

just around the corner...

Gosh it's been a while! Busy busy, but happy happy.....

Latest news from our neck of the woods...a new cafe around the corner from us! We were that excited about it that we'd been huffing on the windows just about nightly while it was being built to see what it was going to look like. It's called the Corner Store Cafe and we couldn't have asked for a cooler spot, great coffee, friendly staff, great food and super cool fit out. Yaay!!

Arkie and I went there with my friend Joey and her kiddies, Charlie and Annabelle earlier this week. I had to post these photos as Arkie took them all by herself (apart from the one of her).

First day of prep

The first day of Prep - what a day!
Up at 5.30am, in uniform by 6.00am.
Aski was so excited,
Arkie still convinced she was going to Prep too.
No tears from anyone (I know, very surprising I held myself together!)
Just loads of fun, new friends and exciting things to discover.
I think it's going to be a great year for Aski.

we found his chubby cheeks again...

A lovely moment yesterday: Aski and I spent (at his suggestion) some time together on the front deck reading.
Aski: Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day
Me: Frankie magazine's latest publication called Spaces
He's such a lovely boy
We chatted
Read
Laughed
And I wondered at how cute he always looks after a haircut (that morning) as we find his cute chubby cheeks again once all that big hair is gone...

desperate rainy days

bowling shoes for the tiniest feet!

loving a new experience

quite the bowler - she got a strike!

happy bowlers...

Many many rainy days at the coast at Christmas meant thinking outside the square for entertaining kiddies....ten pin bowling!
Kids had a ball...
I bowled terribly and found the excuse of my 'bung' finger to take the blame.
Cal showed there is no end to his sporting ability and nailed the game of course.
Arkie got a strike!
Lots of fun really.

Apologies for the lack of Christmas Day photos. I've lost my camera which has all our Christmas photos on board...hopefully it shall return home soon. Please excuse the bad quality photos for a while, all taken on my iphone.

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.