She turned Five!

Last week I kept super busy with birthday preparations for our big Five year old!! I can not believe that our Princess Stella is now 5, she certainly acts it, but its always had for Mum to accept! Right?!

Anyway, we held a Tea Party for Stella and some school friends on Saturday afternoon,  so things for her actual birth day were kept quite simple.

I made some small pom poms to hang in her door way and curled some ribbon. The look on her face when she came in to us in the morning was priceless. So excited and it was all heightened with a bit of effort in her room.

I like to think we don't 'over spoil' our children. They certainly do NOT go without  but gifts for Birthdays and Christmas' are kept simple. Clothing for the coming season, some colouring/activity books, a book to read and a few toys. A few of Stella's parcels didn't actually arrive on time but she was more than impressed with her loot!!

The main present was a gorgeous dolls house that I purchased on sale from Sweet Creations, the roof lifts and stays open and the front opens out. All the furniture came with the house so that was a bonus!!
Everyone has loved the new addition to our house, the boys especially!!

Such a gorgeous girl is our Stella x

Thankfully, the rest of her parcels arrived while she was at school that day, so when she came home she was surprised with another package. Her eyes lit up and she was very happy!!
As you know, we are all bunny lovers here and these are just the best additions to her collection.
These can also be purchased from Sweet Creations

I made cupcakes for school , 34 to be exact, and they were well received. I love how excited they get for taking along goodies like that. Sharing a piece of her birthday happiness with everyone I guess.

Instead of a family dinner where we are rushing to eat , so the kids don't have a late night before school, we decided on an afternoon tea with family. Having their 4 cousins over is a party in itself, so some simple nibbles and everyone was happy.

A birthday in our home is not complete without a green ice cream frog cake. Such a big tradition that everyone looks forward to!

She put all her bunnies to rest on her bedside table that night, so I knew they were a success!!

When saying goodnight and showering her with love and kisses, Stella confessed that it was "the best birfday ever ever" and my heart swelled. As a parent you can't ask for much more!

Fridge To Go - Review

I couldn't believe our luck when the lovely people from Fridge -to- go asked if I was interested in trying one of their cooler bags. I had only just thought to myself that Stella's lunch bag had nearly seen its last day and I was already on the look out for something as practical!

I will be honest and say that we have actually been using this lunch bag for school and everything for a few weeks now ( I have been insanely busy and haven't managed time to write anything lately , but also wanted to try the cooler bag over a few weeks, a true test if I still love it!! )

And I do!! And so does Stella, so that's a bonus!

Fridge-to-go® cooler bags are good for the environment...BPA-free, PVC and lead-safe ! I love that there is no nasties in them and they can be used over and over without feeling worried about harmful chemicals.

I love that the cooler bag comes with this fantastic large but thin ice pack that actually zips into the base compartment and therefore keeps the entire bag nice and cold.

I love that I can now fit more in Stella's lunch box (as she has been eating all her food and I wanted to add a few more thing) because the precious space isn't being taken up with an ice brick , and I love that her cut up fruit (usually grapes and strawberries) stay lovely and chilled , as does her sand which , or the occasionally juice she has (Sunraysia juice packs)

As you can see, the cooler bag can fit quite a lot of food in it, the size is deceiving.

I still like to use the Yoghurt cooler and always multiple containers and everything fits beautifully.

All in all, I really like the Fridge- to - go lunch bag. I like the size, the ice block and convenience.

Perfect not just for school, but family outings, play dates, picnics or car trips.

You can find the lunch bags and more products in the range on the website HERE or on Facebook HERE

Please Note-

I was gifted this lunch bag to use and review as I wish.

All the statements and opinions are my own

I was not paid to write this post, just genuinely like the lunch bag!

Easter Crafting

Over the past few weeks we have really been getting in to the Easter themed craft activities.

Simple and easy and they all look fantastic when displayed amongst our home with all the decorations.

We used a printable found HERE and decorated these eggs with bits and pieces from our craft stash. ( I even had some egg wrappers from last year!!)

We used these sticker books (Coles for just a few dollars) and the Press Out book to create some goodies too!

We used the cute printable from Bianca at a little delightful to make gorgeous bunnies (I cut them all out , glued a button for a tail and they are on display and in frames around our home)

Angus loves to paint and make mess now too!

And also these cute chickens using another printable from a little delightful (thanks Bianca), the kids sponge and roller painted the chickens and then I cute their hand prints out of patterned card stock (then I can keep them )

So now we have a small flock of them adorning the linen cupboard doors.

And also these sweet chickens.

Just a circle face, some googly eyes and feather wings (I cut out tissue paper, serviette and small pieces of material and then the kids glued them on to the circle base to begin with ) The legs were great for practicing folding for the young kids.

And these are adding some cuteness to our boring Pantry door!!

A lazy Sunday activity from the Press Out Book (pictured above) a cute wreath that just needed to be glued, strung and hung. So sturdy too, so this will be added to the box and bought out again next year!

I have a few other activities prepped and waiting , but time is slipping away. Perhaps tomorrow or over the weekend!!

Have you been crafting?

More Easter Decor

I have finally managed some time to share the rest of our Easter decor around our home. As previously mentioned and it is certainly NO secret, Easter is a love of mine. The colours, the bunnies , EVERYTHING!!

So here is the rest of our Easter - y decorating.

Not forgetting some yummy milkshake treats (they always taste better out of bunny straws and cute mugs of course , these are from Woolworths)

The lack of posts is bittersweet really. It means I am too busy to do something I love, but also means I am busy being a Mum, crafting, baking and running around. So bitter sweet x

A little Easter decorating

 I really love this time of year. Actually I love most of the celebrations seasons but the colours of Easter are just gorgeous. So I find it my weakness!!

I also love to decorate our home , and this year the kids are really into it!! They even cheered when the Easter storage box came out of the garage!!

So here is some of the decor from around our home at the moment.

And that's not all of it!!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the decor, and our Easter crafting activities so far! x

Something's Gotta Give

I have been absent here of late.
I know I have had people wondering about my whereabouts.
I've had emails and messages to show that you care. And that you miss me.
Which in itself is quite overwhelming, and I feel so touched.

I have said it once, and I'll say it a hundred more times. But I have been busy.
Busy doing not much really.
Noooo , my days have been full, nights too! But when I think back to the past few weeks/ months. I don't feel a sense of achievement.
The kind I like to feel when I have been too busy to do the things I love, like blogging.

But if I am totally honest with you, which I always try to be (much to my detriment) , something just had to give in the past few weeks. And unfortunately it was this. Here. My happy place.

I have had the thumb slicing debacle, but you will be pleased to know ( or perhaps its just me) that everything healed super well. Took its merry time and is still very numb but the sensation may never come back.

I have also had an awful tooth ache for a few weeks (terribly neglectful of me I know, but I have been pregnant or breastfeeding for a few years now and never have anyone through the day to have all the kids) and ended up getting the culprit removed last Monday. Something I don't want to experience again in a hurry!!

I have been playing netball and basketball and just last week played in 2 prelim finals , winning one , losing the other so off to the Grandy for basketball this Friday!!

I have been trying to plan and organise rooms in our home. Getting quotes for new flooring. Researching and trying to find a suitable size desk for me to use for blogging/crafting/Project Life-ing for our room.

I have had a little princess that has not wanted to go to school. For the first time ever. Full time school is very hard to adjust to but things seem to be improving on the tears - in - the - morning front.

I have had a whiny , teething toddler and 2 nearly 3 year olds all competing for my attention and it has tested my patience and wing span!

I have celebrated a birthday, if you can call it that. I am now have 28 of the suckers under my belt!! argh

I have been working a fair bit, and even helped out my old apprentice to conduct and complete a hair show.

And last but not least.. I have been me. Liz. Mother, wife, chef, housekeeper and Master of all things Household. This gig of being a Mum, is not for the feint hearted!!

So , the crux of the story , if you are feeling a little snowed under. You are not alone.
If you feel like you are running around and getting nowhere fast. You are not alone.
If you look around your house and wonder what the hell happened?! You are not alone.
It seems we are all in this together.
And some days, even the things that you love most may need to be put on the back burner.
But that doesn't make you a failure, or a bad person, or mean you aren't coping!!
Just human
Sometimes somethings gotta give!!
But never fear, even when I don't have time or energy to write ,it doesn't mean my mind switches off. Perhaps that's my problem. I have a list of posts a mile long I want to write!!
I'll be back!

Plans and Changes

You won't believe your eyes!! A post from Liz! Thank you so very much for your encouraging messages and emails, I have always had thousands of ideas for posts running through my head. Just no time or motivation to carry through with them. And I think my head has been elsewhere. Namely on our house.

We have just made the decision, yet again, to stay in our home , instead of selling and building. We really have tossed the ideas around for years, had the house on the market a few times and always changed our minds and taken it off. I think we were trying to tell ourselves something and finally we have started to listen. I started to think about how I would feel if our house sold, and I got upset. I would be devastated. So that in itself was the only answer I needed to stay.

We have bought all our babies home to this house, we have built a family home and created some beautiful memories here and we have also made so many changes and improvements over the years that I really love the space we have made for our family.
Yes, we wish it were a tad bigger, a little more yard area, a few extra rooms but all in all, we love the design, finishes and we would just not be able to afford to replace everything if we were to build.

So..... now that we know we are staying, I have started to do all those things I have wanted to for ages. Place things on walls, get quotes for new flooring, add finishing touches to rooms that I had put off.

Here are a few things that I have been doing just this week;

Finishing and expanding Angus' photo wall in his room

Making some new pom poms for Stella's room, from Easter tissue paper from Woolworths

My poor gorgeous Easter buffet display has been swamped by drills and things waiting to be hung on the walls and given life.

The paper hanging I made for Angus' Christening party was finally put to good use in his room, above his cot.

And I have just started in the reorganising and redecorating of Max and Lacey's room. Unfortunately when they went into their room I was heavily pregnant with Angus and have never really had the time or drive to create a gorgeous space for them. I think the thought of a boy/girl shared room and the difficulties that come with it , really put me off. But I am on a mission now. So yesterday I swapped the bookcase for the small Expedit in between their beds and have, just today, hung the ribbon garland from Angus' First Birthday above it. I just added some pink and purple ribbon and its quite unisex  now. ( I just need Hubby to saw off the end of the dowel)

Small changes but it feels good. Big changes to come. Time, budget and planning. It will happen!!