Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a joyful 2014!

Counting down to Christmas

Each year the boys and I make an advent calendar in which we include a small treat and a Christmas themed activity to complete each day.

Last year we made folded paper envelopes with sparkly pegs on a red Christmas ribbon.

 Prior to that we have recycled cardboard rolls to make our advents calendar (inspired by Maya Made)

This year I found these cute little house which I thought would be great for this years advent.

Unfortunately I printed them a little too small so they are a bit fiddly for my little ones to put together but the boys have helped me come up with our list of 24 advent activities and we are looking forward to lots of Christmas craft and fun over the next few weeks. What are your favourite Christmas crafts?

This moment - Rotto

{this moment}

Joining in with Soul Mama: A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. 

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Three

My Baby is three years old - but he will always be my baby boy! We all love you sooooo much my little man. xxxxx

Collect the Moments

I was recently lucky enough to participate in Capturing Childhoods Collect the Moments photography coarse. I won a voucher for the coarse so I was a little under prepared for it, but despite some difficult family events in the middle of the coarse, I really enjoyed it.

The weekly class format introduces different topics over 6 weeks and sets assignments for you to complete each week. The Kats' provide additional information and prompts every few days as well as feedback on my photos, which kept me motivated. The coarse Flicker and Facebook groups gave me the opportunity to get in touch with other coarse participants, which I found really fun and motivating. I lagged behind in the later assignments but was still able to complete the assignments in my own time.

While I use a simple point and shoot camera rather that a DSLR, I still found the coarse useful. It has encouraged me to pick up my camera more and think about what I want to capture before I start snapping away. It hasn't made my kids sit still for any longer so I can try and get the perfect shot, but I'm still trying!

Go to Capture the Moments if you would like to find out more and once again thanks Kat and Kat I loved it.

Where has the year gone?

It has been months since I have posted and what a few months we have had. Aussie Dads' father has been unwell for sometime with his family (including Aussie Dad) caring for him at his home on the south coast. As a result Aussie Dad was away for weekends regularly throughout the first half of the year.

The boys Grandpa was in his mid 80's but had been in relatively good health until this year so it was very sad when he passed away at the end of May. Since then I seem to have had little time or motivation to blog much.

We have been staying close to home but planning some holidays for later in the year. The boys are as busy (and noisy) as ever but each growing and changing in their own unique way. I have been trying (and mostly failing during this winter weather) to keep up some type of exercise, but I have completed a couple of online courses which I have enjoyed. I hope to post about a couple of them shortly. Hope to see you in this space again soon.

PS these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago in Fremantle.

This moment - (a day late) Balancing

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
inspired by Amanda at Soule Mama

These are a few of our favourite things

These are a few of our current favourites for simple play....

Rascal is loving these big, fat, liquid chalk pens - nice bright colours and so easy to use on the black board, windows or black paper (plus no chalky fingers for those littles who don't like icky fingers!) ...

 

bubbles ...  a perennial favourite  .....

  ...  and of coarse playdough. These garden printable are perfect for creating our own little garden with a bit of green play dough.

What are your current favoirte simple play ideas?

Bali Bali

Where has the year gone? It is May already and I haven't visited this space for a long time. There are various reasons - so much to do and so little time, hubby's parents have both been quite ill which has taken up a lot of his time over the past 6 months, and then I have just got out of the habit and I'm so far behind I don't know what to blog about now.

But enough excuses. We have just got back from a lovely family holiday to Bali so I will simply let you enjoy a few photos.

It was our first overseas holiday as a family so Bali was a relatively easy option. Only a few hours flying time, same time zone and easy family accommodation when we got there.

We didn't do too much sight seeing and we spent most of our holiday hanging out by the pool but it was very relaxing.

Apart from me getting an ear infection no one got sick ... which always makes a holiday much more enjoyable.

 I hope to be back with you again soon. Fingers crossed!