Wonderful Christmas

Belated Merry Christmas to everyone!!
I hope you guys had a fantastic day yesterday, just like we did.
A super early morning thatnks to Master Max, opening pressies as a family of 5 for the first time, it was amazing.
Then off to my parents for more presents, then to Noels parents for breakfast.
It was so nice to see everyone.
On a more casual note, a family lunch at our place that carried on well into late arvo! Yummy , scrummy food, lots of laughter and the Christmas spirit and the day was awesome!!

I got very very spoilt with presents. A gorgoeous gold watch with a large face, a Kenwood Mix master (Yeeehhaaa thanks hubbidy), clothes, books, a button necklace, birkenstocks!! Lots of stuff on my list!!
The kids got super spoilt too, and as we speak Stella is playing pretened Hairdressers with her kit (very realistic with a battery operated hairdryer) and the occasional swing past on her scooter. Happy Days!!

We are off to Horrocks Beach today, can't wait!! A week of relaxation (there is not much to do!!), beaching, playing, snoozing, reading, eating and general quality family time. We all deserve it and it can't come soon enough. So I am surrounded by piles of bags and food and toys and clothes and.. the boot of the mini van is chockers!! Thank god for the mini van!!

You won't be hearing much from me in the next week or so but I will have heaps to share when I get back and I thinking about trying some new things with my blog. I can't believe how many people are reading and following me, so if there is anything you would like to see, hear or me to do , sling me a line, or comment below.

I can't wait for the New Year and what it will hold in store for our little family, 2010 has been such a rollercoaster ride and amazing things have happened. We have gone from having 1 to 3 kids in 2 mins, Noel has changed jobs and major changes have happened to the salon with staffing etc. AND.. its all worked out for the best, every change has been worth it, at the time it didn't feel like it, but in hindsight, it was all for a reason and we are stoked with the outcomes!!

So Merry Christmas Everyone, enjoy the next week, I hope you all have a fantastic time as I am sure I will!!
See you in 2011!!

A few more gorgeous memories from 2010, I am over my storage limit or something for photos so when I have more time I will work it all out and show you pics of my pressies!!

The morning after the birth of our beautiful miracles! (excuse me, I am a little worse for wear!!)

Max and Lacey

A family trip to the zoo



The best kids in the world!!



Stella's face painted, how cute!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, love Stella, Max and Lacey!

Season to be Jolly

I know it is supposed to be the season to be jolly, and I usually LOVE Christmas and even Christmas week. As much as I have always worked at the salon like a trojan (everyone wants their hair done for Christmas right?!) but as tired as I get and full on it is, its so enjoyable. Everyone is in the spirit and always on the happy side of life, albeit stressed.
This week has been a fair bit different. My worst fears came true, 2 staff members were sick on Tuesday..........AND Wednesday .... AND one is still off today!! You try calling people, nearly 30 odd clients and trying to squeeze them elsewhere and reschedule their appts. They were NOT happy. Regardless of the reasons, and sickness is never planned and not prevented (however they could eat better and drink more water and their chances of being healthy would be better, but hey, try telling 18 year olds that, they know everything and are bulletproof!!) Needless to say, stress levels rose, tears flowed (one my end) and I have had to work more than I was planning on.
So.. I am tired. Starting the daily grind with 2 babies and a 2 year old at 5:30 every day and not stopping until I get home from work at 9:30pm = shattered Liz.
BUT...... I am still loving that its nearly Christmas, can't wait for 4pm tomorrow when the salon closes until the 4th and I no longer have to answer millions of phone calls and questions whilst trying to pacify tired and/or hungry babies.
 

The past few weeks have been jam packed with different catch ups, Christmas parties and break ups and it has not slowed down this week. We have been to 3 and we are not finished yet!
On Monday we got to enjoy a beautiful morning tea and playdate at a dear friends gorgeous house. The kids played sooo well (apart from my DD meltdown over a Pram!!) and the bring and share morning tea was yummo!!

I have been really blessed over the past year to have formed and developed some beautiful friendships with some lovely ladies and I really value them and the time we share. All the kids get on , but our nights out without them are even better!! (You know how it is!!) From Mothers Group, to Bookclub , Playgroup and friends of friends I have grown close to, you can never have too many friends , and its so nice to share the moments in your life with people that you respect and admire. Its an important part of Christmas to me, reflecting on the past year and remembering the good times....and bad.

I had best be going, off to work for the last night tonight, and I have dinner to cook, babies to feed and all to bath , and me to get ready of course!! No one likes a hairdresser in a singlet and her best cleaning clothes!

Leaving you with some memories from the past year as the uploaded is playing funny games!

Made it Finds

Whenever I browse Made It, I always find at least 10 things that I would like, and must add them to my wish list to remember in the future and help my Mum out for gift ideas, she is alwasy bugging me for more.
Here are some recent ones I am loving;

Uber gorgeous fabric toy baskets from lilly lolly love

Awesome fabric and applique crown for DS first birthday from my little hero

The most beutiful little softie doll from Greendrop (and good for the environment too!)

Ok, ok, , all the things I have wanted so far are for the kids but same same yeah?

LOVE these Live laugh love bracelets from Vamped By JayCee

Cool Alphabet lletter badges from Oscar And Matilda (love the name too!)

Vintage earrings, love, love, love from Blue Moon Jewellery

More gorgeous earrings from Two Cheeky Monkeys

I hope you like my finds, let me know if you find any goodies for yourself. I love Made it!!

Christmas Baking

Last week I engaged in my love of baking, and for my favourite time of the year, what could be better?
The hardest part of it (apart from finding the time with the kids) was keeping little and big fingers off it!!

This year I decided to make some homemade goodies and bag them up to hand out as little pressies to my friends, bookclub girls and my life helpers (daycare lady, cleaning lady etc.)


I really enjoy baking and that makes it all the more enjoyable, if you however , don't like it, the supermarkets are filled with lovely goodies you could make little thankyou hampers out of.

First off I made Rocky Road (thanks for the inspiration Jess!) , now this was the hardest to keep in the fridge, DH was very tempted!
I simply melted 2 blocks of cooking chocolate (Cadbury) and poured it over a tin with chopped nuts, chopped lollies and marshmellos in the bottom (oh and I added some large White choc melts.

I then made some coconut macaroon balls. I found this recipe after seeing something on Today Tonight.

Add 2 cups of coconut , the rind of one lemon and a can of Sweet condensed Milk to a bowl, mix thoroughly and roll into balls. Bake on a tray until golden brown (ours are a little overcooked on the bases, hubby left in charge!) Yummo!!!

And Choc bit slice. Now I LOVE THIS !! SO easy, so yummy and really versatile to whatever you have left in the house at the time. Comment on this post if you would like the recipe, I will type it out and email it! BTW- My sister gave the recipe to me, Thanks Kristy!!  ( I believe credit where credits due, if you get an idea from someone , say so!! Share the love!) 

And finally some Choc chip muffins. Noel loves these so much one day I made a batch, went out for tea, came home and they were ALL GONE!! The whole lot, needless to say I didn't bake them for a while again. Apparently they are just like subway cookies!! Recipe found HERE. You will only regret it if you eat them all!!

So I packaged them all up in little plastic bags ( I had bought them off ebay for The markets once thinking they were going to be WAY bigger, alas they are not but have come in real handy since!! I used them for the lolly bags for the Christening too! Punched a hoel with the hole punch, added some gold curling ribbon and they were done! I was going to label them all pretty, but I ran out of time, and I think they are quite obvious anyway!

I also purchased a pack of small soft noughat bars (in centre of above pic) and some Christmas Choccies in a pack at Woolworths and added them .

This is how they looked when all finished and packaged up. I was so stoked with the way they turned out and I think my lovely ladies and recipients were chuffed too! Some handmade love that didn't cost much at all!!

Where to buy; -

 Obviously the bags are from Kikki K. I seriously LOVE this shop, everything organisational , which I am right into at the moment. (more on my purchases later). For those in Gero or Perth, there is a great shop in Karrinyup Centre. The bags are thing paper and fold down with a contrasting back.

The gorgeous labels are a free download from Eighteen 25. LOVE them, and thankfully my beautiful mother printed them for me on nice shimmery paper!! I just cut them out with scissors *Note to self- much add 3'' punch to Wish List.

Wooden christmas pegs were purchased from Red Dot- they are actually off a Christmas card holder , so I just snipped the string they were all attached to and voila!! 25 pegs for $2!!

And Green cord ribbon from Woolworths

Lined up for my 5 special friends in my book club!! I also have them in the fridge for those visitors that you think "oops" or anyone else you have forgotten, and our next door neighbour of course!!

For the people that keep me going (aka Daycare lady, ironing lady and cleaning lady , yes I have all 3!! Someone has to do them and they are worth their weight in gold and allow me to do other things, work and spend time with my children around that!)

These guys got bigger bags,more stuff, 2 lots of rocky road and some other nibbles.

These bags were purchased in a multi pack from Ikea!!

There you have it, my little goodie bags for some important people, hopefully they help in some way, or if not, try the recipes for yourself!! Yummo!

Luckily , for DH, another Rocky Road is setting in the fridge, oh he will be happy!!

Back tomorrow with some cool packaging for gifts. 

More.....

Ok, maybe I wrote that post , half cocked in an excited flurry. They were just too cute NOT to share!!

However,  I have since found more, and I am feeling the sharing love again.

Well, everyone knows I have a tendency and weakness for anything owls, like ANYTHING!!

So when I found these little gems, I instantly saved them. Thats the way I am dealing with this over supply of tags and stuff, saving, saving saving. You just never know when you will need something and rest assured , next year, you will be looking for these very tags and they will be lost in the WWW.

Beautiful owl tags HERE



Gorgeous Christmas card HERE

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Oooww check out all the goodies to match from West Elm HERE

                                            

I am thinking these may be it!! I love the colouring, in decorating my home or wrapping our presents under our tree I like to use the traditional colours, so its always nice to get to play around with other colour combos for gifts. I like how I can use my trusty scollop punch to cut them out too. (3" and 2")

Find them HERE

                                  

I hope you can find something you like, there are lots more around, its just a matter of searching!

Nifty Printables

I am scouring the net , trying to find the perfect printables for my Christmas cooking gift bags. They haven't been sourced yet, however, along my travels I did find these.......
Money saving and cute to boot... whats not to love?!

Free Printable Gift Tags HERE, just print onto card and punch a hole and voila!

Sorry its blurry!

Christmas Thankyou notes, great for kids for their teachers HERE 
  

And an uber gorgeous letter to Santa, complete with lines in thirds for your little one!! HERE

These are all found on the Disney website, found HERE, and are great for those who are creatively challenged or just plain out of time!! These little things can make your Christmas that little bit cherrier and are great to add something little to for a gift that is more personalised!!

If you have any good links or printables, feel free to share!!

Training

Now I know this is going to be a controversial subject, but believe it or not, the question I get asked the most (second to "how do you find the time?" is always about toilet training.
Just today I had another discussion with my MG, and it has  brough to my attention an anniversary!! Its the 12 month anniversary of our precious girl Stella toilet training!! Yay!! I can't believe it has been 12 months and when I look back on photos now of her at 20-21 months, I can't believe how small she was. Its only now dawning on me that she was a very young toilet trainer and we were very lucky that it all went according to plan!

Stella January this year, at 21 months!! How young and super cute is she?!

I am going to share with you a few things that I have learnt through me experience with Stella, and a few opinions and please remember they are just that. MY opinions, MY experiences and every person has a right to them. So if you don't want to hear them, stop reading now, if you do, please remember that every child is different, and I am more than certain everything will be different when training the twins!! I am NOT an expert and do NOT claim to be, just a mother, like any other, but I know I like to hear some different stories and hopefully pick up some tips!

First up, I believe that when you make the decision to start training your child , you have to just do it. Start and don't stop. Keep going regardless, or it could end up detremental to their progress and severly confuse them as to what to actually do. It gets hard, and its not pleasant, but neither is changing a 2 year olds nappy , who eats everything that you do!! Ick

Secondly, I believe that your child will give you a "sign" or indication, as slight as it may be, that they are ready and when you get that, run with it!! Regardless of situation and convenience, if you miss it, it may just not come around again! We had just returned from Europe, Stella had been watching us go to the toilet alot,as we were all confined to a small hotel room for 3 1/2 weeks and she was definately observing. When we came home, she went straight into a big girls bed, even though she slept in a cot on trip (purely for monetry reasons , cheaper for a cot than pay for another bed) and we knew we would be in for a struggle getting her back into routine after her sleeping next to us for the time we were away. I figured if I was going to retrain her to sleep independently, I may as well go the extra step and do it in a bed!!

Do it over summer- We started early to mid November and by Christmas, she was mostly in knickers , only a nappy for when we went out (our of laziness and pure convenience as I was very ill being pregnant with the twins) We had a few weeks after Christmas where I was home and that just cemented it all for us!
We also did not use any training knickers , as they are designed to keep the wees in. Great for your house, not so great for a wetness indicator for them. Again monetry and laziness behind it, as I did not want to fork out for training pants , then for knickers as well. So straight into knickers she went, and she was able to feel it running down her leg, and it grossed her out and made her feel uncomfortable, which is what compelled her to try harder.

Number 2's is harder. Wee came easy, number 2's not so much, she started to wait until her nappy went on for a day sleep to do it, so just urging her to go before hand helped.

Don't try and master the nights and days all at once, Stella still wore a nappy at night til April, again, laziness (gee I am Lazy aren't I?!) but that was because I was pregnant with the twins and just couldn't face changing sheets and everything through the night, I didn't sleep much as it was!! Once the nappy started being dry when she woke, and literally the week we came out of hospital with the babies, she wore knickers at night and only had about a handful or so, accidents.

Don't think that by limiting their fluid intake in the arvo helps, I don't believe it does, and Stella is a BIG drinker, she sleeps with a waterbottle on her beside table and its empty in the morning.

We didn't use a potty. Purely cos I couldn't face the fact that I would have to empty and clean it all the time. Stella just had a step thing up to the toilet and a little toilet seat on top so she didn't fall in as she was young. Now she has nothing , just an adult toilet we all use,no step , not seat. I just thought that you have to teach them a potty, then teach them a toilet. No thanks, too much teaching for my liking!!

I hope these have helped, if not, you only wasted 5 mins of your life, if so, great! Remember they are my personal views, goodluck. Nothing is easy in parenting,especially toilet training, but I have to say, it was such a relieft to not have 3 kids in nappies at the same time. Too expensive, and Stella is a big girl, she would look silly with a nappy on.

If you have any other hints or tips, please share!!

So much to do.......

Do you have a ever growing list of things you would like to get done before Christmas?
I certainly do , and its starting to eat at me. You know that feeling you get when you really want/need to do something and you just can't find the spare time for it? Its beginning to feel like the story of my life!
So...... I am hoping that if I share my list, that it will make me feel better for not getting to do them yet......maybe. Good theory Liz.

• Package up and tag/decorate all the baking that I have done for little gifts for people (maybe Sunday)
• Buy my Dads and BIL Pressies - hmmmmmm?
• Finish wrapping all of the presents
• Make stockings for all the kids (starting a new tradition, they already have stockings but my Mum does them)
• Make some Rum Balls
• Write out Christmas Cards for everyone
• Clean out the toy room/label boxes etc, in prep for all the new toys to come
• paint and decorate 2 foam Christmas trees
• Edit and send out the photos from Sundays Christmas party
• Bag up and sell all the baby clothes that are no longer needed (last Babies, sniff sniff)
• Sew an order of 2 nappy pouches for a friend
• Make my niece a dress for her baby doll
• Sew Stella a quilt for her dolls bed like this one;

Made by the gorgeous Melissa Goodsell HERE

And lastly, clean and tidy my house!! Now its not bad, not by any stretch but I have "stuff" in piles waiting to be sorted, piles waiting to be filed, piles waiting to be scrapbooked, piles that have been DUMPED and piles of piles of STUFF!!

Yes, the list is over ambitious, but I am allowed to dream right?
Now if only I wasn;t working Sat , Sun all day, then Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs night , then Friday morning all next week, I might actually be able to achieve some of these great things!!
I will keep you posted!

Names

Its a massive responsiblity to name a child. I mean, what is a name?
Its your identity, not something that shapes someones personality but something that you are known by to others.
There are some good, and some bad, but thats all a matter of opinion really.
Obviously my name is Liz, but actually, my formal name is Elizabeth. A generational name, passed down through my Dads family.
I am proud to have it, and feel lucky that my Dad chose it for me. But I have to say, that as I have gotten older and since the start of my hairdressing career, I have been known as Liz. Just Liz, maybe Lizzy but that is more by people that have known me since I was a kid.
Some people don't even realise that Elizabeth is my real name, even my husband never calls me Elizabeth, and for our wedding, I had to actually teach him how to say it!! I know I know, its easy, but you would be surprised how many people say "Lizbeth".
As much as I love my full name, I feel uncomfortable using it all the time I just doesnt feel like me and I really only get called Elizabeth by my Dad, for appointments or if I am in trouble!! Liz feels like me, it is me!
So this was a huge influence we had when naming our children. DH did not want to have any names that can be shortened. He wanted short, sharp names that are always used (and the fact that our last name has quite a few syllables. However, even though our names are short, you always find a way to personalise them, and their pet names are longer!!

So naturally, Stella's middle name is Elizabeth.
Where did I get my kids names from?
Well, Stella was actually going to be a "Ruby". From day dot, if our baby was a girl, her name would be Ruby. I absolutely LOVE the name, and yet , with less than 2 weeks to go, I changed my mind and Noel agreed. I am so happy we named her Stella. Its strong, and classy for an adult, whilst being girly and sweet for a child. Its not too common ( I only know 2 others ) and that is important to me. I didn't want our daughter to have the same name as 3 other girls in the same class.
Max- Is the name that we had for a boy when we were having Stella. It stuck, it was catchy (Max Morrison) , and it was a short, masculine name. Not to mention the fact that we found boys names hard! Our other choices were Toby (next best), Angus, Oscar and Jacey.
Lacey- I don't know where this came from but I have been a fan of it ever since the TV show A Party of Five was on, way back when. It was never on the list when we were pregnant the first time, but it just popped up and stuck. I LOVE it and we always get comments on her name, every says that it is pretty, so obviously it is well suited to her! (Not biased or anything)

So there you have it, my explanation of my childrens names. Obviously in life we aren't all going to like the same things, especially names , but I do think that everyone shares the same opinions , that choosing a name for a little human being is a BIG responsibility and one that shouldn't be taken lightly!!
Its so sad to hear about all these crazed out superstars that have the strangest names for the kids. Take Gweneth Paltrows kids names, Apple and Moses. Or Jamie Oliver - Poppy Honey Rosie, Daisy Boo Pamela, Petal Blossom Rainbow and Buddy Bear Maurice!!! Poor kids!!

Everyones opionions are different , everyone has a different idea of a good name and that is what makes the world so great and diverse!! Just be happy and confident in the names you have chosen for your special people, we are!!

P.S - This post was inspired by a new little addition to one of my very good friends families, he arrived on Monday, and has THE most cutest name, Colbie. LOVE IT!! And he is super duper gorgeous to match, cluck cluck!

And just cos a post isn't a post without a photo, or 2!!


Max's first piece of toast



Lacey's First Piece of Toast

Pretties

I have recently purchased some absolutely gorgeous goodies off a wonderful and caring lady, doing amazing things
Lea over at Little Bits of Pretty, had made up THE most gorgeous vintage packs with uber gorgeous embellishments for sewing, scrapbooking and crafting and its all for a good cause!
All the proceeds, all 100% , are donated to The Childrens Hospital of Westmead. She even covers the Paypal costs , and all you have to do is pay a little bit of postage!!

So fantastic and I just can't wait to use my pretties!! So many ideas running around in my head!
So if you are interested, its all for a great cause, so what other excuse do you need?
Oh , and she is holding a giveaway at her blog HERE, all you have to do is leave a comment!!

Another Christmas party

You know its the silly season when all you seem to have on your calendar are Christmas Parties and catch ups. Not that I am complaining but its always the way that they are all on the same weekend, and its hard to make them all.

However today we had one that we weren't going to miss.

The Multiple Birth Association that I am a member of held a fantastic Christmas catch up at the park this morning and it was a HOOT!! The kids all loved it, even Max and Lacey. Of Course Stella loved it and was in seventh heaven. A bouncy castle, face painting (thanks Corina!), a lollipop,  icy poles and a playground full of gorgeous kids to play with and she was set!!

Not forgetting the visit from Father Christmas himself!! (Thanks Jason!)  When we went to the Playgroup Christmas Party (a post is coming I promise!!) , she was most disappionted when we hopped in the car and cried a little that she didn't get to hug Santa, well today she did and it was gorgeous to see. Made my heart melt!! She has gone from being a baby that screamed at the sight of him ( we have the annual photo for proof!!) to a child that is loving him and all that comes with it!! The songs, the lights, the parties and of course the presents!!

The girls and the club have been an amazing support to me and my family throughout the past 12 months and I am forever thankful and now that I am a committee member , I am so excited to be able to pay it forward and help other new and expecting parents of twins and develop some more lasting friendships with beautiful ladies!!

Everyone is always happy to help, love holding the babies and are forever answering my questions, as silly as they may be! Its so comforting to have people who know, helping you out, cos this twins thing is a whole new ball game!

Max and Laceys first time on a Bouncy Castle!!

All the families had a great day, and of course there were alot of kids (2 or more of course!!). Its great to see the twins and siblings all interacting with each other!



My beautiful people!!



Stella getting her present from Santa , with lovely helper SH!!

OMG!! How gorgeous!! She even took him a big stuffed toy that was there to be played with as a present!!

Opening her present - a pair of Jiffies (know called Angelina Ballerina Shoes) and a book

Lacey on Santas knee

Max with Santa - this boy is a goer!!

Playing with there presents

A hit!! Sorry , no pic of Max, he is moving so much at the moment its a nightmare!!

I am off to bed, had a HUGE weekend, Party with my cousins Friday night (it was soooo lovely to see everyone), work Saturday, catch up with a good girlfriend Sat arvo whilst Noel went to waterpolo  ( I organised the kids at the same time) and then last night I took all my staff out, we hired the Kareoke Bus for a few hours!! It was THE BEST NIGHT!! Had an absolute ball, it was so good to spend some time with them away from work and let loose a little!! I even had some drinks but was home by 11pm, must be getting too old for this!! haha
So cheers to a fab weekend and looking forward to the next one and what it will bring!

More Memories

I am actually in Perth for a few days, visiting one of my best friends before her impeding birth, and spending some quality time doing what we love. Shopping, drinking tea and chatting!! Its bliss!

Here are a few more images from the surprise memory card!!

A teeny tiny 19 month old Stella, sleeping, hehe

Doesn't Stella and Lacey look sooo similar!!

With her most FAVOURITE person in the world, Denbi, before last Decembers Wiggles Concert!

With Grandma at the Wiggles, in awe

Cousins and friends, an amazing and beautiful friendship!

Grandma and her girls!

Happy hump Day!! Hope its a good one!