A transformed Living Room!

We have been so massively blessed this year.  Not only do I get to soon go overseas and see my little brother get married, but we have been able to go ahead and finally renovate our lounge.  Thank you to our parents and our friends, we feel so much love.   Our lounge has gone from a perfectly average 1970s room, to a modern spacious space.  We are loving it!  Here it is at christmas time last year.  We never used that tiny fireplace even once.  

And then back in June, we had a big surprise when kindhearted Shane offered (actually, insisted) to take out our fireplace for us so we could get on with the project. Remember this blog? 

Shane's help kick started us into painting the ceiling and windows, stripping the wallpaper and hanging new paper, getting a TV up on the wall and today -the grand finale - the carpet went down, transforming the room completely.  

 We had lots of fun pulling the paper off and getting our DIY kiwi fix.  We discovered the original doorway before the extension was added on, and we found about 4 different wallpapers - a real history!

We also couldn't have done it without our parents.  My mum repaired the ceiling, and helped us when we struggled to paint it.  She painted our windows for us too, because she just knew what a difference that would make.  Mum kept encouraging my impatient self not to rush jobs but to do everything properly.

Murray had the horrid task of taking down our radiators for us so we could paper behind them, then putting them back up again.  Those suckers are super heavy, and we were a bit concerned about his back, but we are just so grateful he made the time to help us before they went overseas!

David and Jenny gave up their Saturdays to help us wallpaper the room, which is actually a lot larger then we thought!  It took two entire afternoons and into the evening, but we did it.  David was a great teacher, making sure we both had a go at doing the work ourselves so that we have learnt a new skill.


And then there was the most exciting bit - today we got our new carpets! We couldn't quite afford to do the whole house, so the bedrooms have to wait until next year - making them look even more shabby now that our halls and lounge are so flash.  We spent Sunday afternoon moving furniture and the evening pulling carpet up  - Marty carefully covered all the nails in the corners of each door with a bit of underlay so the kids wouldn't accidently step on them - and the bookcase went out on the grass for the day!

 I tried to be patient while the carpet layer was at work, keeping Luke busy with water play, some baking and T-ball (TV was not an option today).  As soon as I was able to, the books were back in the shelves, the pictures were hung on the wall...and our lounge looks and feels like a lounge again for the first time in months.  And what a lounge it is!   I am loving this room.  It feels so comfortable and spacious and clean.  Ahhhh.  So big thanks to those that helped us, we will never forget your time and love that you poured into this room for us.  

A Fairy Tea Party for our 7 year old Fairy

ingIt's been weeks in the planning, but finally the big day was here, and Jaimee woke up singing "Happy Birthday to ME!" and super excited. In fact, for about 3 hours before the party, she just loitered around the house asking "how long NOW?!".  Luckily, she had swimming lessons in the morning to keep her busy, so when the girls got home with daddy, she was delighted to see our living room transformed into a fairy tea party room.  She told me she wanted her hair in a plait that went around in a circle - I LEAPT at the chance to do her hair like this, even though this was not what she was meaning she told me (it looked so so beautiful). Ella was first to arrive, and the girls had a great time practicing their fairy dancing moves to a DVD while they waited for the others to arrive.  

Check out the table - every guest had their own fairy name place setting, a real china tea cup and saucer ($1 bargains at the charity shops), pixie dust vial and a wand.  The teapots also came from the op shop, and the tablecloth is a plastic one, now safely tucked away for Kate's birthday. I had a great time with this party, and I look forward to many more tea parties to come now we are all kitted out.    The "tea" was pink lemonade of course!

 Jaimee and Kate both had brand new fairy dresses for the occasion, their old ones were rather tatty from years of loved wear and tear.  I made Luke's  tunic myself - rather a big accomplishment for me actually, I don't sew except to put a button on normally.  It was nice and easy with $2 of fabric from spotlight folded in half and cut to shape though, saw it on someone's blog and had a go. Glad I did too!  With a pair of the girls old tights cut off at the ankles, daddy's dressing gown belt and a very cute hat also found at spotlight, he looked like the cutest pixie fairy ever.  He wasn't so happy to be woken from his nap to find a zillion people in his home, but perked up when he got food!
Check out the other young pixie fairy lads at our party, the cousins coped very well with such a girly theme - I was very impressed at the efforts in their outfits.  So so cute.

We had lots of fairy crafts as our entertainment for the afternoon.  The girls enjoyed some colouring as they arrived.  I love the interaction in this photo of Jordis and Jaimee - two very excited little fairy friends.  When everyone was present, we began the festivities truly, going on a fairy hunt in the garden.  Each child found 2 fairies hiding in the garden, and then had to come inside and create a fairy home for their fairies to live in.  

 Fairy homes were created in washed meat trays with a playdough garden base.  Anything from the garden was able to be used (Kate made a "nature fairy garden" she told me as she piled on  the daisies, leaves and twigs), and there was also loads of inviting looking sparkly gems and stones - they all got used! The kids were so inventive and busy with their creations, it was a delight to watch their unique gardens develop.

 And then it was finally time for the fairy tea party!  Everyone found their spots and had a blast being able to pour their own cups of 'tea' from the teapot.  I loved how Lealou stuck her pinky out as she drunk, what a lady!

 The food was all munched up too. From the rose cupcakes to the marshmallow tree, from the butterfly fairy bread to the fairy gingerbread cookies, it was delighted in.    We had their favourite: fruit kebabs, which Luke got so excited about, he cackled with glee at the treat.

Watching the kids sit at the table, while us adults yakked on the couches nearby. Well, it was something special.  

 And then the cake.  Oh the cake! Our good buddy Katie (14) offered to make the cake, and boy did she do a great job.  Marshmallow icing was gooey and so so good, and the cake itself was moist, jam filled and huge.  I have already booked her in for Kate's birthday in Feb!  I LOVE this photo of my kids having an absolute blast with their favourite people.

 How many people can you cram in our lounge? A lot!  Present opening time was a spectacle of paper and gifts.  Jaimee got so utterly blessed (spoilt?!) by the generous people in her life.  Just about everyone had given her 2 or 3 items in their package, so the pile of gifts was much higher then the pile of people in this room.  I tried hard to get her to save the paper, but hey, 7 year olds are much like 2 year olds when it comes to opening presents...after the first few careful openings she was ready to RIP.  She exclaimed over every gift, taking the time to read each card and saying thank you.  Until it came to the presents from us (at the end) by which stage she really was a bit spoilt and barely glanced at the items before putting them in the pile and reaching for the next.  I did talk to her about that, we had spent hours picking out things that we knew she had been asking for for months so that was not a cool moment.  She did apologise to her sad mummy though.

 We finished off the party fun with some more crafts - glitter butterflies, and then sent everyone outside for some fresh air.  Jaimee had fun shooting hoops with her uncle Veasna, she reckons she is going to be a basketball player one day (we will add that to gymnast, T-baller, netballer and ripper rugby player then Jaimee!).

 Thanks heaps to Uncle Paul too, who has taken on caretaker role of our lemon tree since he carefully pruned it (and saved it's life) for us when we moved in - he pulled heaps of fruit down as it was putting way too much pressure on the laden branches. Still HUNDREDS of fruit that need to be eaten folks - come and get your lemons and help my poor tree!

As everyone left and we got stuck into the big clean up, Jaimee had a blast with all her new toys.  Thankfully, she DID love those gifts we carefully chose for her through the year - she is in bed in her beloved onsie, the item she begged us for after the school PJ day.  Her Pillow Pet Dream Lites was coveted for months before she got it today, and she loves it.  Unfortunately, so does Luke.  Sorry buddy, not yours!

How cute is my nephew?

And now It is late, and I am done in.  This was one of the markers on my countdown to my big trip to Scotland.  The last big marker for me is next weekend, when I am swallowing all my nerves and PREACHING in the church service.  To adults.  And then I can start relaxing (or to be honest, cleaning and cooking and packing) and thinking about the two and a half weeks of child free fun that soon awaits me....

Croup and Crochet, Dinosaurs and DIY

Hello blog world! It's about time I updated my online journal of our life, which has been rather busy lately.  We have had nasty bugs running through the family which has kept us pretty close to home, quite nice for a change but not for nice reasons!  Luke has had a cough for weeks, but it developed into a horrid case of croup last Tuesday night.  Being the third child to have croup attacks, I debating taking him to the hospital for ages before we did.  We tried all the tricks that normally work with the girls - taking him outside for a drive, steaming a room, asthma pump, cuddles, drinks...but nothing worked on our exhausted lad.  By 10pm he was screaming his head off from a lack of sleep and oxygen, and we noticed his chest was pulling in.  I whisked him down to the A&E and the nurses listened to one "WHOOP" between his screams and he was whisked straight through the waiting room and soon had 3 doctors putting wires and monitors all over him.  It was a bit scary, and I felt terrible as a mother that I should have come in sooner.  We have taken the girls to the hospital for croup before, but its always been a 2 hour waiting room visit, and often the croup subsides before we get seen, so I hadn't really though Luke was that serious.  Oops.   He was given some steroids, and fell asleep exhausted on me as we waited for them to kick in.  After about an hour, he perked up and was rather delighted to have an iceblock at midnight, racing around (still croupy and coughing!) talking to the nurse and making her giggle at his cute words.  We returned home, and he only woke a few more times in the night.  The next day, he was still very croupy, so we returned to the doctor for more steroids and had to give him a whooping cough test, just to rule that out as we said he had been coughing for weeks (next step is asthma tests, but he has slept through for the last few nights so we are hoping it was just part of his cold now). Luke is the worst patient - he wanders around all restless, giving filthy looks to us between staring in the fridge (nope, nothing i want here) and at the tv (nope, nothing I want there either mum). After a few rounds of this, he lets out a big sigh and face plants onto the cough in despair. Man flu, sheesh. 

So after a week at home, Luke is much much better, with just a lingering snotty nose to show for his sickness.  He is back to his old self, performing his new favourite game: chasing the girls around the house with his toy dinosaur clutched in his hand, yelling "ROOOWR!!!" as he tries to whack them with it.  We are working on the game without the whacking.  Jaimee, exasperated after an afternoon of this, turned to me and said "mum - I think Luke is getting into that 'boy' stage"!  I had to laugh and agree.  

I made use of the time at home by working up some more crochet, managing to follow my first ever written pattern and whipping up this hat and scarf set for Luke.  He looks very smart in it, if I say so myself.  I also taught the girls how to do cross stitch, something I had been trying  to get around to for ages now.  They each worked on a heart, using crochet cotton (nice and thick) and large aida plastic.  It worked a treat, and Jaimee finished her heart quickly, telling me with joy"this is heaps of fun mum! I didn't know it was going to be this easy!". Kate got halfway through hers all by herself, but then lost interest for the day.  She wanted to get back to the girls game of 'schools' they had been playing all week.  It's a lovely stage they are at - they come home from school, run to their room and shut the door (to keep Luke out) and then play happily together with their soft toy children until dinner time.  Bliss for me!

As I started to come down with Luke's cold, we finally managed to finish the wallpapering of our lounge last weekend.  It looks AWESOME.  Our parents have been such a huge help, assisting us clueless un-DIY folk with their superior skills!  By the end of the day we were both cutting and hanging wallpaper pretty much all by ourselves so we learnt a lot . I'm not showing you more photos then this one until the carpet goes down in just over a week and we get the room looking 'finished' - then I will do some 'before' and 'after' shots for you.  

...So that's us for now, next blog will no doubt be all about our big very almost 7 year old's fairy tea party this Saturday, which we are so looking forward to!

Getting my craft on!

I have discovered that I am not quite as useless at crafts as have always proclaimed.  In fact, over the last few months

I have embraced my inner secret crafty self.  Not only do I do photo albums and make cards..I can know also add cross stitch and crochet to my list of crafty endeavors!  I even atttempted my first sewing alterations this week, taking in some old prem baby clothes that the kids used to wear for their dolls.  I am feeling ridiculously proud of my efforts.

Check it out - I finally finished that cross stitch I started months ago..  It's not that great really, but if I hang it high enough on Luke's wall and if you don't examine it too closely, its not half bad for a first attempt!  Now I can finally get to starting the girls ballerina one that I was starting to get a little worried about them outgrowing before I ever got around to it!!

A couple of weeks before mum left, she sat down with me and taught me how to crochet.  I had picked up a beginners kit from spotlight, knowing that this is something mum enjoys and asked her to show me how to do it.  I don't knit or sew, so when I found that I could actually produce a scarf with my own two hands, it was almost embarrassing how amazed I was at myself.  I, yes ME, had made an item of clothing that was perfectly wearable.  I was delighted!! Here is Kate in the first scarf I made (she is holding the lalaloopsy doll she earnt for stopping thumb sucking).

Two more scarves quickly followed.  This wasn't so bad.  But I was also aware that this was the most basic of stitches and was the most basic level of crochet, and I didn't hold a lot of faith in myself that I could produce anything else.  With a bit of encouragement and some help from my friend Debbie, and some more tips on how to give it a bit of shape from Marty's nana, I had a go at making a simple dolls dress.  I am pretty pleased with it actually.  Check it out on Jaimee's lalaloopsy doll! The straps are a bit shoddy, but still, practice will make perfect and It's still a step up from a scarf.   

Seriously addictive this crochet business.  I don't know why people bother to learn knitting and crochet, I certainly don't have time for both skills that are fairly similar in what can be produced.  If you know me well, you know that when I take on a project, I THROW myself at it.    I don't stop until that project is completed, or if it is taking too long - I tend to just give up halfway through (6 months to do that cross stitch - its quite amazing I finished it!!). I think that's what I am liking about crochet  - it's quickly finished.  Of course, in my "throw-myself-at-it" kind of way, I did crochet pretty much for 8 hours straight on Saturday...through Luke's nap, through a birthday party for my nephew, through the rugby...until finally I had to stop because my wrist and arm gave out on me.  They are not used to this kind of needlework at all.  My arm ached all night and I ended up wearing a wrist support all Sunday.  Didn't stop me from finishing my project though.  Check it out...my pride and joy...(drumroll please)...a BEANIE.  Thanks to google, trial and error and some basic instructions from crochet buddies that I had chatted to - I managed to produce this entirely by myself.  No pattern to follow either.  Did I mention I am pretty proud of myself?  The flower was a bit of a last minute inspiration that I managed to figure out with some YouTube instructionals.  This one is my fourth attempt and is a cross between what I was meant to do and what I made up after a few frustrated attempts.  (Don't look closely, I need a lot of improvement yet)  Jaimee just loves it and wore it (with her scarf!) happily to school today.  I couldn't resist coming into class with her and mentioning her hat to the teacher.  I was bursting to share all my hard work with someone, anyone, who might appreciate it (Marty gave me a "well done dear" - typical bloke)!  Kindly, her teacher was a lot more gratifying - hehehe!  

So that's me, apparently kind of crafty after all.  I guess now I have finished those projects up, I should think about the neglected gardens.  

On second thoughts....Luke doesn't have a scarf yet, and it's not time to plant just yet.....