Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Capturing a personality ...

Sometimes when you capture and image of a person, you can look at it and almost see their whole personality laid before your eyes. When I saw these images on my computer screen, I could almost hear the little cackle that our dear little Lacey makes. I could see her little personality shining through the screen. These images are the perfect captures of the essence of Lacey. 


She is determined,
Stubborn,
Strong willed,
Defiant,
Cheeky 
And often pretty naughty


But she is also super affectionate,
very loving,
gives THE BEST cuddles out of all the kids.
She is smart
she is loyal 
And is so caring when it comes to her siblings


This girl is going to run the country some day! Or at least do a darn good job at ruling the roost at her own home, with her own husband and family. 

It is always hard to get a good photo of Lacey as she just won't stand and pose for you, so these are already cherished. 
This is our Lacey ... 

Monday, May 19, 2014

Stella's 6th Birthday Party



Early last month our biggest girl turned 6. 
I swear it is 6 going on 16 , she is just growing up so fast. Her love of One Direction (Harry in particular) , High School Musical and all the things that I thought would be beyond her years. Alas, that is not the case, such a big girl now. 

Even though she acts like a big kid, she is still a little girl , so I wanted to throw her a pretty , girly party. Stella opted for a small party with just a few girl friends, over a big party with lots of kids. I can't say that I was disappointed ! 

So here is Stella's 6th Birthday party



Seeing as though there were only a few girls invited, I opted to make the invitations myself. It only took about 30mins all together and I used all the materials that I already had on hand. Actually the whole party was created and decorated using items from around our home and things I already had in my Party tubs. I think the only purchases were the pink roses on the table and the paper plates. If you want to throw a party with maximum impact but with little outlay, shop from around your home. Pick a theme or colour scheme that you love, because you are bound to have items laying around that you can use.



Anyhoo , this is the way the invitations turned out. 
I used a pretty floral backing paper, I wrote a cute poem to give all the information needed on the invitation and wrapped the invites in doilies and bakers twine. A few butterflies cut using the Martha Stewart butterfly punch and they were complete. Perfect!


And the overall party table 


With only 4 little ladies (plus Stella and Lacey , the boys went out with their Dad for the afternoon) , I didn't go too overboard with the food spread. Some apple and sultana muffins are displayed in the cupcake stands (from Target a few years ago ) 







The gift bags were purchased from Woolworths , and were a perfect match to the party table. They had a few pens, notebooks, and a killer python. Easy on the lollies, bigger on the girly stuff. Win win really! 




And a rare photo of Stella and Mum , in front of her party table. She was so excited and had a great time.


And our 4 little cherubs, its hard to master a photo with all 4 looking good :)


As part of the girly afternoon, each little lady got their nails painted at our express nail salon. Boy did they think they were special!! So sweet! 


We also sat around the table and made pretty bracelets and necklaces , I bought this cheap bead kit from Kmart and added a few we already had. 


They all had such a great time creating their bracelets together. 


We also popped some popcorn and sat down and watched a girly Tinkerbell movie, on a mattress I had layed out with rugs and pillows (sorry the only photo I have , has the girls all together.) It was like a mini slumber party, an insight of the years to come! 

And this year , after Stella went through the Australian Womens Weekly kids cake book, she picked the pool!! The picture in the book is quite dated and I knew I wanted it to look more girly so this is how it turned out! 

Who knew you could get bright blue jelly? The jelly was actually placed on a small blue Tupperware lid, so that when I cut the cake, I could lift the lid off and just a yummy chocolate cake was left. 
The little Lego ladies and sun lounges were a perfect addiction. 


And the princess and her cake at candle time!! 


It was a lovely afternoon , with gorgeous little ladies , having a great time together. It was lovely to have a small , all girls party. We were able to do the activities at ease and even though the house was noisy , it was filled with giggles, playing and sweet conversations. 

If you are thinking of throwing a small, girly party, I would recommend it to anyone!! 




Sunday, April 27, 2014

Our Break away ..

I have had a little blogging hiatus lately, not by choice, but more just lack of time. So I guess I did make a choice, I chose to spend time and live in the moment with my family and try and make it up to you later!! So I promise, in the efforts of sucking up, I will have quite a few blog posts to come!

But for now, some snaps of our family holiday just before the school holidays started! We took the last week of term off, travelled about 760km south, while my parents travelled roughly the same distance north and we met in a gorgeous , small, seaside town for a week of rest and relaxation! 

We camped in a tent, while my parents had a caravan that they borrowed from friends and we had a ball! The kids were in heaven with their grandparents there and Dad on holidays. We spent our days at the beach , swimming, snorkeling , building sand castles. Our afternoons having some nibbles and beverages and taking the time to catch up and just chat. The things you can't do when you live 1300km from your family! 

So here is our holiday in photos .... 

The scenery on the way down was just lots of this. We have had a dry wet season and it is showing on the Pilbara soil! 

I made sure to pack lots of simple activities for the kids. Play dough, colouring in books, blackboards and the best of all - Paint with water books!! A cup of water and a paintbrush and its hours of entertainment! 

Fun in the sun , the bay is protected, clear and just stunning! 


Its not a holiday without a few G & T's !! 


Because we travelled south, the weather was much cooler than we were used to in the morning and at night so we felt it a little. Daddy did not complain when he scored more cuddles though!







This lovely friend was under my chair and my husband warned me not to move!! Who does that?! Of course I ran and jumped on the Engel fridge!! 

No summer holiday is complete without an icecream! 

I just wanted one nice photo of our 2 girls together!! 

Always dancing and prancing together! 

Add caption


Poor Angus was so worn out when we went out for dinner on our last night, he didn't get to eat his meal and fell asleep on the chair! 


Road side toilet breaks on the way home. One for the 21st book!! 


Doesn't it look terrible? All that white sand and the clear water? All of the big snapper and sting rays you can see while snorkeling? The tropical fish, the warm water, the protected bay? 

Needless to say it was a beautiful week, spending time with my parents and taking some time out as a family. We have re booked for next year and can't wait!! 

The kids favourite things? 
Building sand castles
Grandma and Poppy
And sleeping in a tent ! 

Easy to please aren't they?!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Lately ....

It has been a busy few weeks in our house. Lots of parties and catch ups. Meetings and big work schedules. My birthday, friends birthday's and all that life has to offer in between. 
I have so many jobs half finished around the place. Either I am struggling to get supplies or struggling to find the time , so the next Organising on a Budget post is on its way soon, or I am struggling to find the time. Life is busy but full of all the good things.

And this is a little of what we have been up to lately .... 

All of the kids have really been into puzzles lately, not the peg puzzles but 40-60 piece puzzles. So much fun for everyone!! 


Stella lost her first tooth!! She has been waiting for so long and it was wobbly for some time but she was so patient!! She was so happy and proud of herself!


Max and Lacey are loving kindy, and we are learning how to write names and different letters.


Our theme weeks that we used to have a few years ago for Stella have returned. Anything to help with the learning process. We do crafts, collect things from around the home starting with that letter, use flash cards and play games.


We took a day trip to a lovely beach and had lunch with good friends over the long weekend. The weather was warm (as usual) , the company was lovely and it was good for the soul.


The kids loved the beach, and I didn't realise just how much I missed a white sand, no nasties in the water sort of beach!


Crafting and painting. Drawing and colouring in. Always on the cards at our house. Here Lacey is making a Sun, 'S for Sun'.



Stella participated in the school swimming carnival for the first time. They had a ball and it was so well organised and run. Only in the Pilbara is there a tag relay where the kids have to put on a high vis shirt and run around cones!!



Max and Lacey's drawing and writing skills have improved so so much since starting Kindy. Max never used to draw or write anything. Nothing at all. Now he can write his name and can draw the most  gorgeous people!

He drew me this picture for my birthday. That's me with Max and Lacey in my tummy!! So cute!


I had a lovely birthday. The first one without my family around. I miss them dearly but my gorgeous friends and 'Pilbara family' really went out of their way to make me feel special. I feel so lucky to have made such beautiful friends up here. They have certainly made the move easier.
Cards and gifts, morning tea and play at the pool and dinner out at the Yacht Club.  Two gorgeous friends made me birthday cakes, one a Baked chocolate cheesecake that was to. die. for!! Best cheesecake ever ever!
Lucky Liz

I love that Stella is becoming more confident and clever with her reading and writing and I get the pleasure of finding these little notes around the house!! 



Its the big things that make you smile but all the little small things that really contribute to happiness. I want to remember all the little small things.

That's a tiny part of our lives lately ...