Cheeky Finds...

One of the biggest things (other than my family) that I miss about our new town , is the lack of shopping. I know there is the wonderful thing called the internet, oh believe me, I KNOW! However, sometimes you just crave a little wander. The useless, time wasting thing called 'Window Shopping'. 

One of my favourite past times was perusing the isles of my local cheapie shop, or looking with awe at all the pretty little boutiques. 

I wanted to share a few shopping finds that I have found and purchased recently. Some online and some from places you would least expect it!

Our kids needed new bathers as we are at the pool 3-4 times a week , and I am quite particular about what I buy, as in the styles. I can never find Rashie and bather bottom sets for the girls and refuse to buy 2 sets to just get what I want. Then low and behold , I find these sets at Woolworths and for just $6 for the boys boardies and $9.20 for the girls sets , bargain!! 

Do you remember these? Well I sure do! We used to have them as kids and would use a spoon to scoop out the ice!! And only $2 from Woolworths. The kids are loving them!! (and so is Mummy for her adult juice!!)

Now I didn't buy any of these but Woolworths have some fantastic Christmas Gift ideas in stock and at really reasonable prices too!

Take these Ride on bikes for example, our kids loved theirs and they are fantastic for holidays for chucking in the boot for impromptu park visits. $30 each

I have a terrible obsession with Jelly sandals. They are perfect for living in the Pilbara. I can wash them off, they don't get affected by the dirt colour and they don't scuff or mark. And these beauties were only $20 from Just Jeans! 

 I am loving the gorgeous disposable plates and bowls from Kmart and they match my decor for this year perfectly!! Only $2 a set!

And all the gorgeous and cheap plates etc at Kmart , I may have bought 4 of the divided plates on the bottom, they were also $2 each!

And some more gorgeous Jelly sandals. This time from Seed, and they have been worn to death already! 

And last but not least, our little Angus has developed quite a love for the Planes movie characters (without actually seeing the movie) and for his recent birthday, I picked up these Tshirts and boardies for just $5 a piece from Woolworths. He loves them and they are washing and wearing so well! 

Have you found any good bargains recently? Feel free to share on my Facebook page or here in the comments!! 

Enjoy and happy shopping!

Halloween

Halloween.  Such a controversial topic.

In our home, we love Halloween. We love the crafts associated (I will share a few simple ones we did tomorrow), we love to decorate the house and we love to dress up. 

Seeing as though it is also Angus' birthday, it has made the organising and celebrating a little hard but we seemed to hit the jackpot this year!

By mid October our front cupboard unit (the first thing you see when you enter our house) went from this;

to this;

A simple display with some goodies I have picked up quite cheap over the years.

And who can resist the fake spider webs?

And this year we received a new goodie to add to our decks.

My MIL is a fantastic patchworker and sent this up to us!! Awesome hey!

Stella also had a dress up day for school, and she asked to go as a Vampire! I didn't think she even knew what a vampire was but they were obviously talking about it at school! 

Thankfully my Mum sent up some costumes from the cheapie shops as we don't have any of those in our new town!

The most gorgeous Vampire I ever did see!

Stella's teacher also dressed up as a witch and looked fantastic and decorated her whole classroom with spiderwebs, signs and bats etc. It looked amazing and the kids were all so excited and stoked!

And that arvo/night, we all headed off to a Halloween party at a friend of Stella's house. 

All the kids were invited which was fantastic and I think they looked so cute (and Angus had a ball on his birthday night)

At the party (which was a bit out of town) the kids did Trick or Treat (only going to the party holders families houses in the street) , watched a Halloween movie, had some dinner , played with glow sticks and had fun with a pinata.

All in all, the day and night was a heap of fun , and thats what it is all about for our family and children!

Our baby is Two!

I can not say it enough, but kids grow up too quick! Especially my cherubs. You just want to bottle up their littleness and stop the clock. But then again, growing up means new adventures, a whole lot of excitement and more independence. 

Thats what I'm afraid of!!

We no longer have any babies in our home :( 

Our little Angus Frankie turned TWO on the 31st of October, a Halloween babe was he.

It was an exciting day for all, none more so than his big brother and sister who shower him with love , every second of every day. ( Well maybe not every second! They all like to fight like cat and dog too!)

They were excited about the cake, about his little party and about his presents!

So here it is, a birthday for a beautiful little boy. Our little boy. 

And it only feels like yesterday that I wrote this;

It has become tradition in our home to decorate the kids doors for their birthday morning. It makes them feel special and builds the excitement for whats to come!

                                    

                                              Which is lots of presents!! 

                       

I just love capturing the look on their face when they first see their presents!! Priceless. And the party that are waiting in the flanks to help the unwrapping!

                        

And he got a bike from his Grandma and Poppy!! Excitement plus (but jealousy from Max and Lacey as they don't have one yet , bad I know, but are getting one from the big man at Christmas!)

                       

                       

He was chauffeured around the house by his big sister for most of the morning and loved every second!

We decided to throw him a little party with a few friends and their kids, seeing as though we aren't near family anymore and wouldn't be doing the birthday dinner and cake with cousins.

And with his birthday being Halloween too, we had a Halloween party to attend that night so cake and candles in the morning it was!

Someone was so tempted but very patient as I was setting the food out for the party. I was mean and made him wait until people arrived to eat. So he sat here for about half and hour. Watching, waiting ......

I kept the party and decos very basic!! Shock , horror and surprise for me I know! But it was a busy week leading up to the day and he had a ball regardless!

                          

                         

Some simple Goodie bags from Woolworths with bubbles, a lolly pop and a few lollies, nothing too major!

                         

I presented Angus with the Womens Weekly cake book with a few days to go , and despite all the attempts from his siblings to try and convince him to have a certain cake, he chose this!! Good boy!! Nice and easy for Mum!

                         

It was a simple , 2 tiered butter cake with chocolate fingers and Curly Wurly chocolate for the front gate!

                          

                          

                          

And then it was over. And now we have a big 2 year old, that is toilet training (and nearly mastered it), doesn't sleep with a bed rail on his bed anymore and is just one of the kids!

He is loving, affectionate and by golly is he active and mischievous. But we wouldn't have him any other way! 

Where did the time go?

Thats right .... too quick!

Lately ....

Life for us in our new town is a little slower paced, not as many obligations and things we HAVE to do each and every day and we are all enjoying the change.

Here are a few snippets of what we have been up to lately. filling in the days and enjoying our new home.

Baking is always on the agenda here. I feel like I can't keep up with the demand!

I have just about finished my first round of the Michelle Bridges 12WBT and have loved all the yummy food, especially this Ginger Salmon stir fry!! 

The kids love to collect "treasures" from all around the place! 

And Pick flowers for Mummy

I was inspired by a gorgeous friend to give the kids little manicures one Sunday morning. They loved every minute!

We have been exploring and enjoying the warm weather and water

And I have been getting my craft on and made a few cute necklaces  for myself and gifts for friends and family!

As you can see, plenty to keep us busy and new experiences all the time. Life never has a dull moment, why would we want that?!

A home again ...

To say the last 4-5 months of our lives have been emotional , is an absolute understatement. There have been many lows, tears shed and tough moments but the highs and happy times , by far out weigh all of the hard times!! We are happy, content and feel like life is working out for us , finally. 

Yes I miss my family. More than anything else in the world. I miss my Mums cuddles, my Dads pats on the back and my sister and her beautiful family BUT , I am making the most of everyday. The meeting of new people, establishing new relationships, discovering new places to go , new things to do and generally forming a new little life for ourselves here. Complete with a family of friends , all here for the same thing, in the same boat and willing to share their lives with you too. 

I have surprised myself by realising that I indeed LOVE our new town. Sure, the lack of shopping, places to eat or go to are a downfall, but the town is full of gorgeous friendly people, lots and lots of activities and things to do all the time and as a family we have a much calmer and more relaxed lifestyle. 

My husband works less, we go out more as a family and have loved spending lots of time at the pool and parks on weekends and afternoons. The weather is nice and warm (and its only October), usually sitting mid to high 30's , sometimes the odd day reaches 40 degrees but with a lot less wind than our home town, the afternoons are glorious!

I finally feel settled now. And I know a large contributing factor to that would be that after 10 weeks in a transit house, we finally moved in to a house of our own. 

I can not emphasise enough, just how amazing it was , to see the big orange truck pull up and start unloading our containers that had been in storage! 

The kids were in heaven! Discovering all their old toys and belongings, even just having their own quilts back on their beds put massive smiles on their little faces!

So..... a few pics of our moving process ...

Packing up the transit house. This is all we had for 10 weeks. Clothes and some kitchen items. 

Our new house!! The colours are out there! It is a slightly renovated 70's style home , but with new tiled flooring and quite an odd layout, but we have made it work and love it now!

Our BRIGHT laundry!

Living area looking towards kitchen and hallway with front door

DURING!! Just keeping it real!

The boys now share and so do the girls and the change has been really good!

The buffet in the entry 

Our Liatorp unit that was a part of our TV unit before didn't fit anywhere unfortunately , however we split them up and now the kids toys are housed in here in their Toy area.

More of the toy area

Our living room

A girls gotta move over 1200 km to get herself a craft room!

And when most of the unpacking was done, the kids got to rediscover their long lost Trampoline!!

So there you have it. A few sneak peaks inside our new humble abode. Never fear, this place needs lots of organising and redecorating and all for a rental, which is a bit different for us, so stay tuned for more posts!

Ahhhh it feels so good to be back blogging again x

Same same but different ....

I just love that saying, 'Same same but different' , it never ceases to make me laugh. Especially when said by a Balinese person who is trying to get you to buy something that is a 'genuine fake'.

Anyway, you know how it goes. You have children, and to you they don't look like anyone really, just themselves. Their big personalities take over and they looks and features are all their own. Every now and then they may look at you a certain way and you think ' oh geez, she is her fathers daughter '  or something to that effect but its when you go out, see people you know or show people photos that the comments start rolling in. 

People saying that Stella looks so much like me, then you turn around and the next person you see , says she looks like her Dad?! Go figure?!

But when it comes to siblings looking alike, I knew right from the start that these 2 of ours are like two peas in a pod.

That's Angus on the left and Stella on the right. Amazing huh?

And most people did not pick it. But I knew the minute Angus was born, he was just like his sister. 

In looks only , their personalities are polar opposites, especially at the same age. 

Angus is full on. A thrill seeker, fearless and never, EVER stops. 

At the same age, Stella was quiet. You told her off once and she never did it again. She liked to read and sit quietly. 

Don't get me wrong. I can see similarities in all of the kids. Even Max who seems the odd one out , but these tow, especially here!! Crazy!!