New Winter Dress

So I have been busy,

busy with the kids school production ( making a crocodile head ) busy taking lil miss to play group after play group

and my favourite, sanity sewing.......

The other day after sewing the buttons on,  I finally took some photos of lil misses new winter dress.

I am really happy with how this dress turned out....

though I did have a little hiccup, the back gaped quite a bit, so I had to unpick it and put a section of elastic in, but it solved the problem..

And when out and about yesterday, we had a couple of compliments... so it ticks all the boxes

My favourite part is the lace border....

I had given up on that lace, 

it never looked good on any project,

it always made other things look tacky

 but this time it was a match made in heaven.....

 well at least I think so...

Not that it bothered lil miss either way,

she just had great fun chasing chickens

and falling over in the dirt.... you should have heard her squeals of excitement..... priceless!  I love being a mum :)

Linking this up with

Tea Rose Home

Sugar Bee Crafts

J Embellish Round-tuit-55



Screaming and Swearing

Its a been a big problem in our house at the moment!

I was going to write about this last week, but I thought I would give it a while before I bragged " this has changed our lives"

( nah just kidding )

Here's the background:

We have always had issues with screaming, but the latest fad is SWEARING!!!

Middle B especially has taken to it like a duck to water....

and now Little J has picked it up..... but worst of all,  Lil Miss!

Uh Oh!!!  And it is sooo much worse when little kids say them

So after a long discussion with Middle B, Mike came up with the solution to our guilty secret....

The kids helped with labelling the jar, obviously tanks to Little J are relevant

The deal is if your'e caught screaming, swearing or acting angry to others, and your'e a kid - 10c into the jar

If your'e an adult - a wopping $1.00

Yes Mum and Dad aren't saints!

Infact we have both contributed a few dollars each, and are having fun telling each other off, its actually taken the nagging out of it because we now have become competitive

 (in all good fun of course.)

The result so far:

Middle B is trying really hard to stop himself, though midweek wanted to 'opt out' ( sorry kiddo no can do! lol )

Big J is sly and being careful, though I caught him a couple of times with screaming

Little J, not so clever ( poor man ) so he is running equal with B

Lil Miss, well thats going to take a while, and she doesn't qualify.

And once the jar is full, we will be using the money to do something as a family.... at the moment the talk is about going out for dinner.

Conclusion: 

 We have had happier kids,

happier us and a nicer atmosphere at home this week

 Win Win!

Loving this week

Loving ......... that Middle B received another certificate

for all his hard work at school, this is his second in three weeks!

Well done my man!

Loving...... drafting my own skirt this week... and bonus it worked, yay!!! putting the finishing touches on it this weekend

Loving....... my impromptu haircut and colour, and after many years of trying to get it right, 
the hairdresser got the cut and colour bang on!

Added bonus, no more birds nest, can't believe it had been two years without a haircut.. woops!

Last of all loving...... my lil miss and her favourite hiding places

Well atleast she thinks she is!



Loving Bubbles

We woke up to another gloomy day...

so Big J asked if he could use his newly won bubbles,

Great idea!

Mike and I then quickly realised

this was Lil Misses first introduction

So I'm loving capturing the pure joy of new things

loving watching my kids playing together

loving watching their amazement

Loving ..... bubbles that all ages enjoy

Loving!



Linking this up to



Our Queens Birthday Weekend

I was going to put words to these photos,

 but I think they say it for themselves 



Lots of Things I'm Loving This week!

I'm loving that I finally finished my Big Js quilt blogged here

and that I had a great craft weekend down the road with all the girls from our craft group, and a great time playing pictionary till 1am!

that was fun!

Also I really enjoyed hand sewing down the binding, the best part of finishing a quilt!

Absolutely loving this Birthday menu list that was

produced by my now 9 year old! Priceless! and now, so humble with what he asks for.... boy I remember when you used to get terribly disapointed, you used to have such high expectations 

( my mum would say the same thing about me ) 

Now your'e heading to double digits, and you look like you have grown overnight.... you're so much more easy going in this last year and often surprise me with some of the grown up things you

say now... loving it!

Loving quiet time when Lil Miss is asleep, and this week I decided to paint my nails, for the first time in years... wonder how long it will take before theyre chipped?

( when I asked the kids what I should put in the caption,  " I'm old" and " I'm a bug" were their answers )

Loving all the care packages from mum in the mail this week, she is so thoughtful and I love and miss her heaps.  Also loving this book, to help me use my, large stock of homeopathic remedies to their full potential, courtesy of course of my homeopath mum. 

And loving this kid above with all the new words,

that just keep on coming....

uph (up)

appl ( apple )

and many many more others, that I can't remember now I am writing them down ( hate that! )

And the list could go on this week!  Now better get back to the kids

its " Teachers only day" so loving that I don't have to pick the kids up! ha sneeked another one in :)

Sometimes kids just won't wear it

This post is in response to Hazel at Hazelnutgirl blog

blogged here

Basically the question was

"do kids always wear what you slave

your butt off making for them?"

Reality?

No!

Exhibit A

I was begged to make this, by my Big J....

he even chose the colours!

After slogging my guts out to finish this for him,

yip you guessed it! 

He wouldn't wear it, too itchy! 

It now resides in his bottom drawer

Same happened a couple years ago, when I was knitting several creations for my new baby to be, and Little J begged for something for him.  So again after knitting like crazy, I finished it only for it to be rejected! Argghhhhh!

Have I learnt my lesson?

Answer: I am casting on another knit,

this time for Middle B,

and this time he chose the pattern, the wool, and I made extra sure the wool was super soft...... so come on Middle B, I'm cheering for you to make the right decision!

As for sewing?  Well I haven't had the problems that were mentioned by Hazel, yet! PJ bottoms, wallets, and bags have all been accepted with gratitude (sometimes less enthusiastic as you would hope! )

or like the quilt situation posted here

as for Lil Miss, she doesn't have much choice at the moment,

though who knows what awaits me in the future.......hmmn