Room to Grow

Yesterday Reuben celebrated his 11th Birthday. He seems to be growing up so fast, just one more year of Primary to go now. As our gift to him we decided it was time for a bedroom that better reflected his age. His room has pretty much stayed the same since we moved here nearly 5 years ago, and the quilt was still the rocket ship one from 6 years ago, so time for a change. I took him shopping a couple of weeks ago to pick new bedding, and during the countdown to his birthday picked up some new bits and bobs for his room including a new desk and chair from our favourite op shop, some matching under-bed storage containers, frames for his Karate Certificate and photos, and a bendy container for his Lego. I have been working on a quilt for his bed but, like most current sewing plans, childminding has been taking up all my time.

Simon took Reuben away for a couple of hours yesterday leaving me to re-vamp the room. When he arrived home he walked in and announced “awesome” with a big grin on his face, and has sworn he will now be keeping it tidy – we shall see about that! Have you seen these Balloon Balls from Locket.co.nz that you can see on top of his Lego container? They’re fantastic, I bought one for him at the last market I did, made from fabric and beautifully constructed – you simply blow up your ballon inside it and twist the top to seal it. It’s been a great toy that has been played with almost daily, you can purchase them here.

and the Catching Up continues

The holiday visitings continue with a wonderful night spent with Simons brother and his partner, and their two lovely kids, at their home. They live in Harwood, which sits directly across the harbour from us, so much so that we can see each others houses with a decent pair of binoculars. The early evening was spent sitting around a picnic table while food was barbequed, wine was enjoyed, conversation flowed with great ease, and the kids jumped constantly on the trampoline, occasionally colliding but with no lasting injuries to tell of. The front part of the property consists largely of sand as they are at sea-level and look straight across the water, and they have a Firepit in their front yard for just such an occasion as having invited guests. Before the kids headed to bed the fire was lit and they all had the chance to toast a few marshmellows, something Reuben and Mia had not done before. With a great amount of anticipation the night was spent in The Sprite, a soft top caravan from the 1970′s belonging to Simons parents. The wind decided not to calm down, so there was a fair amount of flapping walls, but everyone slept well and we all have a good story to tell for it.

Catching Up

The school holidays only have a week and a bit to go, and days are filled with visits with people that we don’t spend enough time with. Yesterday it was our friends in Broad Bay for a natter, lunch, and then a swim before the weather did a complete and rapid turnaround, throwing rain at us and leaving the sky a gunmetal gray. The seagulls obviously were much more aware of the impending climatic change than we were.

Felt Brooches

Today two of Reuben and Mia’s cousins joined us for the day, and after two hours was spent whizzing down waterslides and jumping on pool-bound blow-up structures at the local pool, it was time to head to our place for some lunch and quiet play. The boys headed off to Reubens bedroom for some serious warfare involving Pokemon and Ben 10, but the girls seemed a little at a loose end, even declaring “we have nothing to do” at one point. Out came the bag of Felt, and we proceeded to make some cute flower brooches with the girls picking their colours and buttons, glueing the parts together, and hand stitching some detail on. They seemed quite pleased with the results, and I think they came out looking rather good. Happy weekend everyone x

Picnics

The weather is threatening to pack up and give us some much needed water, so to get the most from the beautiful sunny day we have had today the kids and I headed out to a park in Mosgiel to play and picnic. We made pikelets this morning, packed them in a basket, and got into the car post haste. Much climbing, swinging, sliding, and see-sawing was done, only briefly interrupted by a sit down under a huge Silver Birch to enjoy our wares before returning to play. The park has amazing play equipment, the kids just love it there and we recently hosted an early birthday for Reuben there, but the garden would have to be the part of the park I enjoyed the most. Very much inspired by an older style of gardening, with lots of huge trees amongst sprawling grass, herbaceous borders with gravel paths, and Rose gardens exploding with colour and scent – it reminds me a lot of the Council gardens where I grew up. I particularily fell in love with a large and floppy yellow rose – I do so love the look of Old Roses, they just seem to rickety and rambling.

 

Resolutions

Ah, the New Year, so full of promise and a refreshed point of view. It’s funny how a small break can make your perspective skew so much. Now it’s back home, Simon is off to start his Summer School course at Otago University, the kids have made a list of what they would like to do across the next few weeks, and my theme seems to be sort-it and tidy-it. The end of last year turned into such a blur, there are definite moments I really have no memory of. I tried to make as many Christmas gifts as possible, and now I can show you a few, but it seems that in my daze I didn’t even photograph them all, or at least if I did goodness only knows where I filed them. Ah well.

Do you have any New Years Resolutions? Mine include fitness, spending more valuable time with the people I love, and working in a harder and more organised way for little minx. This year I hope to make minx a more serious business, and have started a long list of what I would like to acheive and what kind of plan I have for it. Admittedly it starts with the words “business plan”, which is about as far as my knowledge stretches when it comes to organisation, but we’ll just add that one to the Learning Curves Folder and see what happens. Add to that, I am going to up my reading challenge this year from 12 books to 18. I love the excitement of a fresh start.

As Ye Like It (Two – or Happy New Year)

A few days back from Holiday (with a Capital H) and I find myself still not sure what day it is, and dreading the day when I do again. We do not get very many serious breaks from the everyday, and our time at As Ye Like It  in the Purakanui inlet has just been the holoiday of holidays. Everyone is so relaxed after a week they are almost floppy – Simon and I smile constantly, the kids don’t argue, and Max the dog has decided that he has no need to sneak off our property whenever he can as he’s sure there is a swim just around the corner. Heck, even the cats aren’t grumpy at us for leaving them in a cattery! I tried to edit the photo’s down, I really did, but perhaps didn’t do so well as there were just so many moments, topped off by the surpirse arrival of Granny and Trouble. I am almost speechless at how wonderful the last week has been, Purakanui is a bubble I would surely like to live in. I hope your New Year has been equally as wonderful, inspiring, and refreshing x

Merry Christmas x

Merry Christmas to you all – I hope it’s been a wonderful day full of family, joy, and cheer. Thank you for being around and visiting my blog, I truly love to write and photograph it, and hope it brings a moment to your day when you visit. We are off to As Ye Like It  for a break, something I feel very in need of. So, Happy New Year, take care of yourselves and be safe, see you in 2012 xx

Books and Crowns

As I steadily try to work my way through my rather hopeful list of handmade Christmas gifts, I thought I would show you a couple of the things I have made in the last week. Firstly, Flower Faerie Crowns I made as part of an order from a family member, I will admit to having fit one extra in to place under the tree for Mia. These crowns are simply three Felts in pink cut into four-petal floral shapes, with lime green leaves on the edges. These were then embroidered onto a Felt crown in brown or black, which was then sewn together with a backing, and to include the elastic. Fairly simple, but a lovely outcome.

Secondly, some books I made for Reuben and Mia. We have always made it known that Santa brings the “big” gift, and strive to make the gift from us something small. So, as we are heading back to As You Like It to spend an entire weeks holiday from Boxing Day on, I thought it would be nice for them to have a diary to record their daily experiences there. I based this loosely on an idea from tiny happy, and changed the wall paper to fabric as well as glueing some printed paper into the inside cover, and using some ribbon kindly given to me by my friend Jill for the spine. And yes, all sewn on using the sewing machine, including the pages. You can see the original idea from tiny happy here. How are your Christmas gift plans coming along? Only 3 days to go!

To Teach

I think that, next to Nurses, there is no professional I admire more than someone who choses to teach. The job they do is so very important, and the enthusiasm and creativity that goes into is something I have so much respect for. Looking after, leading, and inspiring more than 20 children on a daily basis takes a special sort of person, and we certainly couldn’t do without them. The children hold them in such high regard, and rightly so. Both Reuben and Mia have been blessed year after year with incredible teachers, something I am extremely grateful for. This year Mia has started at school, settling in quickly and with ease, largely due to the wonderful teacher she has had. A great start for her, and as a thank you from us I made them both a Pencil Case from Vintage fabrics. Thank you to anyone out there who chooses to have such an important role in our next generation, without you our future would not be as bright as it is.